3V  652  .M3  1917 

McGarrah,  Albert  Franklin, 

1878- 
Modern  church  management 


MODERN  CHURCH 
MANAGEMENT 


CHVkCH  EFFICIENCr  SERIES 

By  Albert  F.  McGarrah 

Church  Efficiency  Specialist 


A  Modern  Church  Program.  A  Study 
in  Efficiency,    iimo,  cloth    .    .     net6oc. 

Prepared  as  the  result  of  the  wide  experience  of 
the  author,  who  is  a  Church  Efficiency  Specialist, 
in  order  to  help  Churches  study  their  fields  and 
forces,  and  make  out  complete,  effective,  and 
reasonable  programs  of  activities  along  all  lines. 
These  activities  embrace  education,  evangelism, 
visitation,  social  service,  missions,  etc.  Thi»  is 
not  a  treatise  on  methods  or  devices,  but  on 
church  statesmanship., 

Modern  Church  Finance.  Iti  Prin- 
ciples and  Practice.    1 6mo,  cloth,  net  ;^  i . 25 

A  complete  guide  to  success  in  raising  church  funds 
by  a  most  competent  expert,  illuminates  every 
phase  of  the  subject  including :  System,  Modern 
Methods,  Special  Finance,  Problems  and  their 
Solutions,  How  to  Avoid  Deficits  and  Raise 
Pebts,  How  to  Secure  Larger  Budgets  for  Church 
Support  and  Church  Benevolences,  How  to  Pre- 
pare  for,  and  Conduct  an  «« Every  Member" 
Canvass,  How  to  Collect  An'ears,  How  to  Make 
Church  Finances  Minister  to  Spiritual  Efficiency* 
etc 


MODERN  CHURCH 
MANAGEMENT 

A  STUDY  IN  EFFICIENCY 


BY 

ALBERT  F.  McGARRAH 

Church  Efficiency  Specialist 

Author  of  ••  Modern  Church  Finance,"  "  A  Modem 

Church  Program,"  etc. 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Epin»urgh 


Copyright,  191 7.  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    100    Princes    Street 


TO 

MY  WIFE 


PREFACE 

WE  are  living  in  a  new  age.  God  has  not 
changed  but  His  world  has  changed. 
Jesus  is  the  same  but  the  eyes  of  our  under- 
standings have  been  opened  to  see  vastly  greater  pur- 
poses and  glories  in  His  life  and  work.  In  this  chang- 
ing, growing  world,  only  a  growing,  changing  Church 
can  be  all  things  to  all  men  and  institutions  that  it  may 
win  them  to  accept  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of 
individuals  and  of  society. 

Our  science,  wealth  and  population  have  increased 
more  during  the  past  forty  years  than  during  the 
preceding  four  hundred,  and  the  Church  is  just  begin- 
ning to  feel  to  the  full  the  results  of  these  changes. 

From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  present 
world  war,  men's  ideals  and  ideas  and  methods  will 
advance  more  than  during  ten  times  the  period  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  Democracy,  commerce,  industry 
and  social  organization  are  taking  thousand-league 
steps. 

They  must  not  out-distance  the  Church.  In  the 
approaching  high-tide  of  opportunity  for  religion  and 
the  Church,  she  must  advance  even  faster  than  other 
institutions.  Putting  aside  all  sectarian  and  debatable 
matters,  she  must  press  to  one  supreme  goal,  to  make 
Jesus  Christ  King  in  every  life  and  in  every  com- 
munity, in  every  nation  and  in  all  human  interests. 

Each  local  church  as  well  as  the  church  at  large 
must  outline  a  program  of  action  as  much  vaster  than 

7 


8  PREFACE 

the  old  as  the  present  war  out-reaches  all  former  ones. 
As  the  former  military  forces  and  strategy  and  equip- 
ment and  finances  of  our  nation  appear  petty  in  the 
light  of  the  present  marvellous  mobilization  and 
organization  of  our  national  resources  for  unprece- 
dented campaigns,  so  their  past  forces  and  organiza- 
tion and  equipment  and  resources  must  be  increased 
many  fold  if  the  churches  are  to  take  advantage  to 
the  full  of  the  magnificent  opportunities  to  make  Jesus 
King  of  the  forces  of  industry  and  commerce  and 
science  and  national  life,  and  to  establish  peace  and 
prosperity  and  good-will  for  all  men  and  nations. 

Forgetting  the  things  that  are  behind,  pressing  for- 
ward unto  the  achievement  of  the  magnificent  duties 
which  God  has  set  before  us  with  an  open  door,  we 
must  build  us  more  noble  and  adequate  ecclesiastical 
organizations  and  policies  through  which  the  Spirit 
may  work  to  redeem  the  world  and  to  rebuild  it  after 
the  divine  pattern.  "  If  God  is  our  partner,  we  must 
make  our  plans  large,"  remembering  that  the  re- 
sources of  God  are  promised  to  those  who  undertake 
His  program. 

To  those  who  deprecate  the  development  of  ec- 
clesiastical machinery,  let  me  recall  the  scriptural 
teaching  that  the  Church  is  a  body  made  up  of  many 
kinds  of  members  and  having  many  functions,  and 
that  the  Christian  is  likened  to  a  soldier.  God  is  a 
fool  if  a  complex  body  is  a  mistake,  and  military 
leaders  are  mistaken  if  wars  should  be  fought  with 
simple  armies  as  formerly.  But  God  wisely  made  the 
body  complex  that  it  might  be  efficient,  and  generals 
who  are  wise  do  not  deplore  military  complexity. 

If  the  directing  head  be  capable,  the  human  body  or 
the  army  or  the  Church  can  be  made  vastly  more 


PREFACE  9 

efficient  by  increased  complexity  and  wisdom  of 
organization  and  management.  But  simplicity  must 
be  sought  as  far  as  possible,  and  organization  is  sec- 
ondary to,  not  a  substitute  for,  spiritual  purpose  and 
devotion  and  pulpit  and  pastoral  efficiency. 

This  is  the  third  in  appearance,  but  the  first  in 
importance  and  in  logical  order,  of  a  series  of  volumes 
which  the  author  hopes  to  complete  in  due  time.  In 
this  are  laid  the  foundations  for  the  others,  which 
will  incorporate  the  results  of  an  intensive  study  of 
the  various  phases  of  church  management.  The 
reader's  interest  should  be  increased,  together  with 
the  value  of  this  book,  by  the  fact  that  these  volumes 
are  the  outgrowth  of  hundreds  of  Church  Methods 
Institutes  and  Church  Efficiency  Campaigns  con- 
ducted by  the  author,  where  the  successes  and  fail- 
ures of  churches  of  every  size  and  type  have  been 
revealed,  including  many  of  every  Protestant  body 
of  any  size. 

Not  only  have  these  ideas  been  presented  con- 
stantly and  debated  and  tested  thoroughly,  but  much 
of  the  material  has  been  incorporated  in  lectures  to 
students  of  McCormick,  Princeton,  Western  and 
other  theological  schools. 

May  this  volume  be  a  valuable  asset  to  the 
churches  of  Christ.  May  it  stimulate  others  to  give 
more  thorough  consideration  to  the  important  sub- 
jects treated,  which  have  received  but  a  meagferpart 
of  the  attention  due  them. 

Chicago,  III.  A.  F.  McG. 


CONTENTS 

I.    Modern  Church  Management  .       .      13 
II.    Modern  Church  Problems         .       .      22 

III.  The    Supreme    Goals    of    Church 

Management 42 

IV.  Ten      Essentials     of      Successful 

Church  Management      •       •       •  55 
V.    Church   Organization — Its  Funda- 
mental Principles     ....  73 
VI.    Church    Efficiency   Through    De-  0- 
partments  and  Societies  ...  88 
VII.    Church    Committee    Organization 

AND  Efficiency 99 

VIII.    Church    Efficiency  Through   Dis- 
trict Organization    ....  109 
IX.    Modern  Women  and  the  Efficient 

Church 120 

\   X.    The  Sunday  School  and  Young  Peo- 
ple's Departments    .       .       .       .136 

XL    The  Efficient  Men's  Department  .  145 
XII.    Official   Board   Organization   and 

Administration 154 

XIII.  Setting  Every  One  at  Work    .       .  167 

XIV.  Securing  Efficient  Church  Officers  187 
XV.    Successful  Church  Diplomacy       .  195 

XVI.    Securing  New  Policies,  Plans  and 

Equipment   .       .       c..       .       .       .     205 

Bibliography   ......     213 


MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

THIS  is  the  day  of  efficiency  standards.  The 
world  insists  on  the  elimination  of  unneces- 
sary waste  in  the  form  of  materials,  time, 
products,  opportunities  and  unused  equipment.  It 
demands  a  maximum  of  results  with  a  minimum  of 
cost.  The  more  important  the  institution,  the  more 
searching  is  the  scrutiny  into  methods  and  results. 

Even  a  superficial  scrutiny  of  American  Protes- 
tant (not  to  say  Catholic)  churches  reveals  most 
striking  proofs  of  inefficiency.  They  have  clearly 
failed  to  accomplish  the  results  which  might  be  ex- 
pected, considering  their  divine  origin  and  commis- 
sion, their  human  forces,  their  natural  and  super- 
natural resources. 

While  Christ  was  a  missionary  and  his  last  com- 
mand was  to  evangelize  the  whole  world,  the  aver- 
age foreign  mission  gifts  of  some  of  our  largest 
religious  bodies  are  less  than  one  cent  per  week  per 
member.  No  denomination  of  200,000  members 
averages  as  much  as  one  cent  per  day  for  each  mem- 
ber and  adherent. 

Of   American   church  buildings,   representing  an 
investment  of  over  $1,750,000,000,  one-half  are  used 
not  over  a  day  per  week,  while  only  one  in  ten  is 
used  over  four  hours  weekly,  aside  from  Sunday. 
13 


14  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

In  a  land  where  almost  every  citizen  recognizes 
and  reverences  Christ,  we  find  that  less  than  ten 
per  cent  of  the  population  hears  a  Protestant  ser- 
mon weekly.  The  average  weekly  attendance  at 
theaters  and  movies  is,  in  many  cities,  five  times  the 
church  attendance. 

Millions  of  church  members  bear  the  name  of 
Christ  who  would  be  decreed  fraudulent  and  spu- 
rious if  we  had  a  "  pure  religion  label  law,"  who 
refuse  to  permit  religion  to  interfere  with  the  most 
heathenish  practices  in  their  social  and  political  and 
industrial  interests  and  activities,  who  not  only  ig- 
nore the  moral  teachings  of  their  churches  but  bring 
contempt  upon  them,  who  do  not  dream  of  seeking 
really  to  know  and  obey  the  commands  of  Christ 
who  is  their  Lord. 

To  a  very' large  proportion  of  the  members  of  all 
American  churches  prayer  is  meaningless,  faith  in 
spiritual  realities  is  no  more  than  a  superstition,  mis- 
sions are  held  in  contempt,  and  the  divine  ownership 
of  their  property  and  their  Christian  stewardship 
are  derided. 

We  find  that  only  forty  per  cent  of  the  Sunday 
School  pupils  join  the  church.  Frequently  less  than 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  members  are  males. 
Though  Christ  was  a  man,  there  are  3,000,000  more 
females  than  males  in  our  churches.  According  to 
the  census  of  1906,  forty-two  church  members  and 
one-third  of  a  minister  were  required  to  make  a  net 
gain  of  one  member  in  a  year. 

From  twenty  per  cent  to  fifty  per  cent  of  the 


MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT  15 

additions  to  the  churches  on  confession  are  dropped 
from  the  rolls  within  a  few  years. 

In  scores  of  other  ways,  we  might  illustrate  the 
inadequacy  of  results  in  and  through  our  churches. 

This  does  not  mean  that  ministers  are  less  diligent 
or  consecrated  than  formerly;  not  that  religion  or 
the  Church  is  dying  out;  nor  that  the  leaders  of  the 
Church  are  in  ability  and  intelligence  below  the  aver- 
age standard  for  leaders  of  other  institutions.  The 
contrary  is  true.  Ministers,  church  leaders,  religion 
and  the  Church  are  all  better  established  than  ever. 

The  troubles  are  that  we  are  living  in  a  new  age, 
the  most  complex  that  the  world  has  ever  seen ;  that 
in  church  work,  as  in  farming  and  merchandizing  and 
manufacturing  and  in  all  other  affairs,  the  manage- 
ment of  yesterday  will  lead  to  bankruptcy  and  failure 
today.  Because  the  Church  is  the  most  complex  in- 
stitution on  earth,  and  religion  is  the  greatest  human 
interest,  the  highest  development  of  religion  and  the 
fullest  efficiency  of  the  Church  must  advance  more 
slowly  than,  and  must  wait  in  part  upon  the  perfection 
and  utilization  of,  all  other  interests  and  institutions, 
while  it  needs  more  far-sighted  and  efficient  man- 
agers and  a  more  comprehensive  policy  than  any 
other  institution  in  the  world. 

Possibilities  Through  Increased  Efficiency 

The  apparent  decay  of  religion  and  the  Church  has 
already  been  checked.  In  some  fields,  there  has  been  a 
striking  reversal  of  tendency,  especially  since  the  Lay- 
men's Missionary,  Men  and  Religion,  Sunday  School, 


16  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Christian  Endeavour  and  other  modem  movements 
of  many  types  have  begun  to  set  new  ideals  and  to 
arouse  a  broader  and  more  uniform  enthusiasm  and 
purpose. 

In  ten  years,  gifts  to  foreign  missions  from  Amer- 
ican Protestants  have  risen  from  less  than  $9,000,000 
to  more  than  $24,500,000  per  year.  Expenditures 
for  educational  and  social  and  missionary  work  in 
America  have  been  vastly  increased  and  the  results 
have  advanced  in  even  larger  proportion.  The  net 
annual  gains  in  membership  of  several  denominations 
have  doubled  and  trebled  since  19 10.  Multiplied 
thousands  of  men  and  women  are  enrolling  for  vari- 
ous forms  of  service  to  the  Church,  the  community 
and  their  fellowmen — spiritually  and  socially.  The 
efficiency  of  all  departments  of  church  work  has  been 
vastly  increased. 

Modern  evangelistic  campaigns  on  a  city-wide 
scale, — with  adequate  organization  and  preparatory 
plans,  with  all  denominations  uniting,  with  their  ample 
corps  of  leaders,  with  liberal  expenditures  for  taber- 
nacles and  other  publicity  and  equipment  features, 
with  plans  and  programs  which  are  far-reaching  in 
time  and  scope,  with  adequate  forces  enrolled  for 
visiting  every  home  and  for  developing  the  prayer  and 
other  essential  features, — have  demonstrated  the  mar- 
vellous possibilities  when  the  churches  begin  to  go 
about  their  work  regularly  with  the  same  regard  for 
fundamentals  of  efficient  business-like  management. 

That  the  average  American  church,  by  adopting  the 
fruits  of  the  largest  experience  as  to  successful  plans 


MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT  17 

and  goals,  methods  and  organizations  and  policies, 
could  increase  its  resultfulness  for  the  Kingdom  by 
from  100  to  500  per  cent,  there  is  no  doubt. 

William  James  reminds  us  that  men  are  as  yet  ex- 
erting but  a  fraction  of  their  potential  energies,  and 
of  the  Church  this  is  even  more  true. 

Church  Management  Defined 

•^  By  church  management,  we  mean  the  study  of  gen- 
eral church  supervision.  In  this  volume,  details  and 
methods  will  be  discussed  only  incidentally.  Our 
primary  concern  is  with  fundamental  principles  and 
factors  in  church  organization  and  planning. 

The  employment  of  the  best  church  methods  at 
every  point  and  in  every  detail  is  essential,  but  we 
must  dig  deep  and  lay  our  foundations  on  bedrock  or 
we  cannot  build  most  wisely.  Unless  our  general 
plans  and  blue  prints  are  carefully  determined,  we 
may  not  expect  the  brick  and  mortar  to  yield  the 
largest  returns. 

Too  many  pastors  and  church  officers  are  content  to 
do  superficial  work.  Instead  of  church  engineers, 
building  organizations  to  stand  and  grow  for  cen- 
turies to  come,  they  are  mere  church  tinkers,  patch- 
ing up  weak  points  in  the  old  scheme  of  organization 
and  management  as  a  tailor  puts  a  new  patch  on  an 
outworn  garment.  Others  are  church  jugglers,  satis- 
fied with  attracting  popular  attention  and  admiration 
by  doing  sensational  rather  than  permanent  things, 
starting  many  things  and  accomplishing  nothing.  In- 
stead of  studying  statesmanship  and  church  building. 


18  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

they  depend  on  makeshifts  and  try  short-cuts  to  repu- 
tation and  glory  through  numbers.  They  are  no 
sooner  gone  than  their  plans  are  forgotten.  Their 
policies  are  obliterated,  their  work  falls  to  pieces  and 
they  become  fruitless  memories. 

Other  church  leaders  wish  to  build  permanently. 
Realizing  that  one  cathedral  of  stone  will  stand  for 
ages  and  is  of  more  use  than  a  hundred  straw  huts, 
that  God  works  by  ages  rather  than  by  spurts,  and 
that  one  oak  is  worth  a  thousand  squashes ;  they  seek 
to  secure  results  rather  than  crowds,  to  build  churches 
rather  than  reputations,  to  build  on  rock  rather  than 
sand.  For  such  far-sighted  church  architects  is  this 
volume  and  its  series. 

The  Scriptural  Call  for  Efficient  Management 

Is  it  Scriptural  to  emphasize  church  management? 
Is  it  not  contrary  to  the  Christian  ideal  to  study 
mechanics  and  systems  and  methods  instead  of  rely- 
ing wholly  on  prayers,  sermons  and  similar  forces? 
Such  questions  still  lurk  in  the  minds  of  some  con- 
secrated folks.  We  will  turn  aside  briefly  to  satisfy 
ourselves  once  for  all  that  we  are  not  departing  from 
the  methods  of  the  Spirit,  to  be  able  to  give  reasons 
for  the  faith  that  is  in  us  that  these  matters  are  just 
as  legitimate  and  indispensable  in  church  business  as 
in  other  business. 

God  is  a  God  of  system.  From  the  activities  of 
atoms  and  electrons  to  the  orbits  of  suns  and  stars, 
from  the  growth  of  a  mustard  seed  to  the  evolution 
of  a  nation,  from  the  shapes  of  oak  leaves  and  snow- 


MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT  19 

flakes  to  the  construction  of  human  bodies  and  minds, 
every  element  of  His  creation — His  every  activity — 
manifests  His  concern  for  system  and  organization. 
We  are  driven  to  conclude  that,  if  order  is  not 
Heaven's  first  law,  it  is  certainly  among  the  first ;  and 
while  love  is  God's  supreme  attribute.  His  love  works 
by  and  through  law  and  order. 

The  organization  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  church, 
which  the  Bible  attributes  directly  to  His  wisdom  and 
will,  was  marvellously  systematic  for  that  age,  as 
were  the  tabernacle  building  and  service  and  the  tem- 
ple architecture  and  worship.  When  our  forefathers 
emphasized  so  highly  the  "  plan  of  salvation  "  and 
"  system  in  theology,"  they  impliedly  condemned  the 
heresy  of  indifference  to  wisdom  and  order  in  church 
management. 

If  system  and  strategy  are  unspiritual,  then  Christ 
was  unspiritual  for  He  was  as  great  a  master  of 
strategy  as  of  prayer  and  of  the  Scriptures.  For 
His  advent,  He  chose  that  strategic  age  when  Greek 
philosophy  and  culture  joined  with  Roman  language 
and  law  to  offer  unprecedented  opportunities  for 
carrying  and  interpreting  His  gospel  to  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men.  Instead  of  travelling  to  great 
cities  like  Rome,  or  seeking  to  preach  to  crowds,  He 
wisely  gave  most  of  His  time  to  the  systematic  train- 
ing of  competent  successors  because  it  is  wiser  to 
train  twelve  men  than  to  do  a  hundred  men's  work, 
and  because  such  education  could  be  more  effectively 
imparted  in  comparative  solitude.  We  find  that  His 
curriculum  began,  not  with  theology  but,  with  the 


20  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

simpler  ethical  principles  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
and  that  His  highest  revelations  followed  practical 
demonstrations  of  His  divine  authority  and  illustra- 
tions of  the  significance  of  His  earlier  teachings. 
While  He  was  always  as  harmless  as  a  dove,  He  was 
as  wise  as  a  serpent  in  dealing  with  His  adversaries 
and  turning  events  to  good  account  according  to  His 
purpose. 

Because  methods  and  management  must  constantly 
change  with  changing  conditions,  He  :wisely  ab- 
stained from  suggesting  details  in  these  regards 
lest  they  be  misunderstood  as  permanently  binding 
and  gave  His  chief  attention  to  changeless  ideals  and 
principles.  Yet,  as  has  been  well  pointed  out,  He 
was  the  first  "  Efficiency  Expert "  and  anticipated  and 
illustrated  in  His  practices  every  one  of  the  twelve 
principles  of  efficiency  elaborated  nearly  nineteen  cen- 
turies later  by  the  Apostle  of  Personal  Efficiency, 
from  "  competent  counsel "  to  "  the  square  deal." 

Consider  His  management  of  the  task  of  feeding 
the  five  thousand,  supremely  important  because  it  is 
the  only  miracle  recorded  in  all  four  gospels.  We 
find  that  He  first  surveyed  the  task,  or  the  number 
to  be  fed.  He  next  took  stock  of  the  available  re- 
sources, and  of  the  difficulties.  Next  He  organized 
the  work  and  seated  the  multitude  by  "  fifties  and 
hundreds  "  for  the  sake  of  speed  and  fairness.  Next 
He  secured  an  adequate  corps  of  helpers  by  summon- 
ing all  of  the  twelve  to  stand  ready  to  distribute. 
Next  He  gathered  every  available  loaf  and  fish  before 
He  asked  the  divine  blessing  in  prayer.    But  this  is 


MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT  21 

only  one  of  many  illustrations  of  the  business  judg- 
ment of  Christ. 

Since  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  of  man,  business 
instinct  and  administrative  ability  are  among  His 
creations.  Since  God  is  the  source  of  the  brains  and 
laws  and  forces  which  make  inventions  and  manage- 
ment possible  and  give  them  their  value,  these  talents 
are  just  as  sacred  as  the  talents  of  oratory  or 
prayer. 

Since  all  so-called  secular  and  material  laws  and 
materials  are  really  of  divine  and  spiritual  origin, 
they  must  be  spiritual  in  purpose.  Neglect  to  develop 
and  conserve  and  utilize  them  for  the  Church  and  its 
work  is  nothing  less  than  sinful  indifference  to  God's 
rights  and  creations  and  methods. 

The  larger  results  which  have  always  accompanied 
business-like  management  in  the  world  of  religion  by 
such  organizers  and  systematizers  as  Calvin  and 
Wesley  and  Paul  and  Billy  Sunday  prove  that  God 
still  expects  faith  and  system  to  go  hand  in  hand  in 
the  Church  on  earth  as  they  do  in  heaven,  and  that 
spirituality  and  practicality  are  mutually  helpful  and 
dependent  rather  than  antagonistic. 

The  Church  is  the  temple  in  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  is  to  dwell  as  it  dwells  in  the  human  body.  The 
more  perfectly  organized  and  managed  is  the 
**  human-body  temple"  or  the  "  church-temple,"  the 
larger  are  the  results  which  the  indwelling  Spirit  can 
produce. 


II 

MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS 

THE  successful  manager  of  any  institution 
must  understand  the  sources  of  its  prob- 
lems, especially  if  the  institution  is  com- 
plex. Being  the  representative  of  God  on  earth,  His 
supreme  visible  agency  in  dealing  with  all  His  human 
children  and  all  their  individual  and  social  interests, 
the  Church  of  Christ  must  always  be  the  world's  most 
complex  institution.  Her  leaders  need  a  more  inti- 
mate insight  into  existing  conditions  than  do  states- 
men, for  the  Church  is  the  prophetic  teacher  of  the 
state.  Her  problems  are  as  varied  as  human  inter- 
ests because  all  other  interests  and  problems  are 
added  to  her  own. 

The  local  church  must  likewise  understand  all 
the  problems  of  her  community  and  of  her  members 
and  prospects,  with  their  sources,  because  she  is 
affected  by  them  all  and  must  adjust  her  policies 
thereto  and  because  she  must  declare  the  whole 
will  of  God  as  it  relates  to  them.  The  mission- 
ary and  other  general  American  church  problems 
have  been  clearly  formulated,  but  no  adequate 
presentation  of  their  significance  for  the  local 
church  has  yet  appeared.  We  can  here  merely  hint 
at  them  and  their  sources,  trusting  that  some  com- 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        23 

petent  authority  may  soon  give  us  a  more  exhaustive 
treatment  thereof  as  a  basis  for  efficient  church  engi- 
neering and  reconstruction.  The  problems  of  the 
modern  church  have  many  sources. 

Protestant  church  management  has  more  problems 
than  Catholicism.  More  intelligence  and  attention 
are  essential  in  the  government  of  a  democracy  than 
of  an  autocracy.  The  pope  can  tell  his  followers 
what  they  must  do  and  when,  can  make  immediate 
changes  in  policy  or  organization,  can  authorize  his 
lieutenant-priests  to  act  without  consulting  their 
parishioners.  Protestant  church  leaders  must  guide 
the  thought  of  their  followers  yet  must  wait  until  it  is 
moulded  in  legislation.  They  must  depend  upon  the 
voluntary  co-operation  of  their  employers.  They  can 
be  hindered  by  faddists  or  self-seekers.  In  a  church 
democracy,  voters  often  resent  suggestions  of  change 
as  undue  reflections  on  their  past  wisdom  and  in- 
fallibility. On  the  other  hand,  they  are  likely  to 
abandon  good  plans  and  call  for  undue  changes  as  a 
panacea  for  inefficiency  due  to  their  own  unspiritu- 
ality  or  indifference.  They  may  nullify  all  that  their 
leaders  have  wisely  done,  may  refuse  to  help  to  do 
what  themselves  have  voted,  or  may  bungle  things 
because  their  conceit  leads  them  to  vote  and  to 
undertake  work  without  due  preparation  or  con- 
sideration. 

The  ideals  and  attainments  of  a  democratic  church 
are  infinitely  greater  than  those  of  the  papacy,  because 
they  include  the  broad  development  of  the  members 
rather  than  keeping  them  ignorant  and  superstitious, 


24  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

but  for  this  very  reason  a  much  higher  type  of  in- 
telligence and  spirit  is  required  both  in  leaders  and 
followers,  and  the  problems  of  majnagement  are 
accentuated. 

American  churches  are  developing  within  a  de- 
veloping democracy.  Political  instability  has  always 
been  a  temporary  hindrance  to  the  church,  upsetting 
its  equilibrium,  bewildering  its  members  and  dis- 
tracting its  leaders.  America  is  at  an  unprecedent- 
edly  unstable  period  in  the  evolution  of  her  national 
ideals  and  methods.  The  political  status  quo  of  fifty 
years  ago,  which  served  as  a  stable  basis  for  church 
adjustment  and  management,  has  been  discarded. 
City  charters,  state  constitutions,  national  traditions, 
all  are  changing  rapidly. 

Men  do  not  know  what  they  want  or  need.  Be- 
wildered by  the  situation,  they  seek  an  infallible 
authority.  They  follow  the  orator  or  the  ward-boss, 
and  make  him  a  dictator,  merely  because  of  per- 
sonality or  of  one  service  rendered.  When  he  dis- 
regards their  selfish  wishes  at  one  point,  or  when 
demagogues  rise  against  him,  their  affections  are 
hastily  transferred  to  another  political  demigod.  The 
influence  of  the  political  leader  is  likely  to  be  as 
great  as  is  the  inadequacy  of  the  tests  of  his  fitness  or 
the  uncertainty  of  his  vogue. 

So  in  the  church,  because  conditions  are  so  bewil- 
dering within  and  without,  no  one  knows  exactly 
what  the  times  demand.  He  who  knows  least  often 
becomes  a  leader  because  those  who  know  best  are 
too  humbly  conscious  of  the  imperfection  of  their 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS         25 

knowledge.  A  pastor  explains  one  intricate  point 
and  is  at  once  acclaimed  an  infallible  authority.  Too 
often  he  is  betrayed  by  his  gullibility  into  accepting 
this  unintelligent  semi-worship  as  proof  of  his  wis- 
dom, rather  than  of  its  superficiality  of  which  he  is 
very  soon  the  victim.  One  mistake,  or  the  antagonism 
of  a  bellsheep  member,  suffices  to  discredit  his  as- 
sumed wisdom.  He  is  dismissed  and  a  new  infallible 
leader  is  sought.  The  church  needs  spiritual  lead- 
ers who  realize  the  vastness  of  the  plans  of  God  and 
the  transitoriness  of  present  world  and  community 
conditions,  who  seek  to  foreshadow  ultimate  stand- 
ards rather  than  to  dogmatize  concerning  methods, 
who  can  develop  an  open  mind  in  the  church  along 
with  loyalty  to  God  and  to  Jesus  Christ.  Experi- 
ments must  be  made  and  must  be  regarded  as  experi- 
ments in  method.  The  cocksure  church  manager  is 
likely  to  be  a  conscious  or  unconscious  quack. 

The  enlarged  duties  and  opportunities  and  com- 
petition of  the  modern  church  demand  increased 
machinery  calling  for  larger  attention  to  church  man- 
agement. A  century  ago,  the  average  church  con- 
sidered its  duty  done  when  it  had  called  men  to  recog- 
nize God,  to  accept  the  creed  and  the  Bible,  to  keep 
the  ten  commandments,  and  to  prepare  to  die.  Her 
work  was  to  arrange  for  weekly  sermons,  for  stated 
calls  to  catechise  the  people,  for  conducting  funerals 
and  for  performing  marriages.  The  minister  was 
the  church.  His  word  was  law.  Only  he  was  holy 
enough  to  do  any  work.  Management  was  of  no 
importance. 


26  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

What  a  change !  Within  the  past  century,  the  Church 
has  received  her  first  clear  vision  of  her  missionary 
and  social  responsibilities  and  their  scope  and  im- 
portance. She  has  awakened  to  the  Christian  duty 
of  making  the  child  central  instead  of  considering 
him  an  unfortunate  obstacle  to  be  repressed  when 
he  could  not  be  ignored.  She  has  realized  that  a 
church  whose  founder  finished  His  work  at  thirty- 
three,  and  called  as  disciples  only  young  men  who 
could  labour  for  forty  or  sixty  years,  should  give 
larger  attention  to  training  and  using  her  youth.  She 
has  recognized  the  heresy  of  her  Roman  tradition  of 
using  only  workers  who  have  been  ordained,  and  has 
sought  to  conform  to  the  Scriptures  by  calling  all 
men,  women  and  children  to  take  a  share  as  well  as 
a  voice  in  the  work  of  Christ. 

She  has  reaccepted  the  primitive  teaching  of  the 
Church  that  she  must  educate  her  members  by  work, 
as  well  as  by  the  pouring-in  process,  though  it  be  far 
more  difficult.  She  has  been  compelled  by  a  study 
of  psychology  to  revolutionize  her  teaching  methods 
and  her  equipment.  She  is  forced  to  compete  with 
the  spectacular  appeals  of  movies  and  entertainments 
and  of  the  Sunday  press.  The  remarkable  expendi- 
tures of  money  and  of  brains  on  advertising  counter- 
attractions,  and  the  unprecedented  appeals  of  wealth 
and  the  things  it  will  buy  and  the  power  to  get  it, 
make  it  vastly  more  difficult  to  secure  proper  atten- 
tion to  her  ideals  and  work. 

Life  itself  has  become  almost  incalculably  more 
complex.    Yesterday  the  Church  had  almost  no  com- 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        27 

petition  or  social  relations.  Today  she  must  adjust 
her  appeals  and  her  methods  to  a  complex  social 
organism,  with  a  hundred  local  lodges,  clubs,  com- 
mercial organization,  educational  concerns  and  com- 
munity agencies.  These  make  urgent  demands  upon 
her  for  leadership  and  support,  divert  her  members 
and  prospects  from  proper  attention  to  their  religious 
duties,  and  call  the  minister  from  his  church  duties. 
While  few  of  these  things  are  inherently  evil,  they 
hinder  the  efficient  development  and  operation  of  the 
Church  and  tend  to  bring  her  into  contempt  because 
of  the  resultant  reduction  in  efficiency. 

The  increased  cost  of  ministerial  living  and  libraries, 
and  the  necessity  of  better  equipment  and  the  urgency 
of  adequate  allowances  for  publicity,  social  educa- 
tional and  other  essential  matters  to  meet  the  needs 
suggested  above,  combine  to  demand  vastly  increased 
expenditures ; — if  the  Church  is  to  keep  pace  with  her 
members  who  spend  more  on  automobiles  than  the 
entire  incomes  of  their  grandfathers,  or  to  maintain 
her  respect  as  compared  with  the  stupendous  out- 
lays for  government  and  education  and  philanthropy 
and  their  resultant  equipment. 

These  new  ideas  and  tasks  necessitate  a  great 
variety  of  committees  and  complex  departments. 
Unless  they  be  properly  organized  and  managed,  con- 
fusion and  demoralization  must  result.  The  modern 
church  must  seriously  set  herself  to  the  task  of 
wisely  analyzing  and  evaluating  and  co-ordinating 
each  and  all  of  them. 

The   increased  size   of  the  average   church  has 


28  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

greatly  intensified  the  problem  of  performing  these 
increasingly  complex  duties.  Managing  a  small 
school  or  factory  or  church  will  always  be  a  com- 
paratively easy  matter.  But  when  a  church's  mem- 
bership reaches  300  or  500  the  relations  of  the  mem- 
bers become  vastly  more  complex.  Every  denomi- 
nation has  seen  a  great  change  here.  For  example, 
102  Presbyterian  churches  in  Philadelphia  average 
over  600  members  and  11  have  each  over  1,000.  In 
the  territory  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific 
only  II  Presbyterian  churches  had  in  1870  as  many 
as  200  members  each,  but  now  30  churches  in  that 
region  average  over  1,000  members  each,  and  have 
more  members  than  had  the  782  churches  in  that  area 
in  1870.  It  is  impossible  for  one  pastor  to  do  justice 
to  500  members  in  the  average  church  without  an 
assistant.  It  is  foolish  to  say  that  the  large  church 
cannot  be  as  effective  as  the  small  church,  if  the 
same  amount  per  capita  be  expended  for  pastors,  and 
if  adequate  wisdom  is  exercised  in  developing  the 
organization  and  efficiency  of  the  work  aside  from 
preaching.  Churches  of  2,000  members  will  soon  be 
common  and  can  be  made  more  efficient  than  those  of 
200  members  but  there  will  be  an  educational  director, 
one  or  two  assistant  pastors,  women  to  help  with  the 
office  work  and  with  the  visiting,  together  with  an 
executive  secretary  or  business  manager  competent  to 
perfect  and  direct  the  organization  and  oversee  the 
mobilization  and  training  of  efficient  volunteer 
leaders. 

Our  church  inefficiency  is  largely  an  entail  from 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        29 

the  churches  of  the  past  century.  We  do  not  imply 
that  the  churches  of  yesterday  did  nothing.  They 
wrought  miracles.  They  found  a  continent  in  process 
of  conquest  by  rough  and  ready  pioneers  and  set 
themselves  to  conquer  the  conquerors.  Ministers 
were  scarce.  Colleges  and  seminaries  did  not  exist. 
Churches  had  no  buildings  and  their  people  had  no 
money.  Accustomed  as  European  immigrants  are  to 
churches  supported  by  taxes  or  endowments,  few  of 
their  members  were  trained  to  give  and  their  former 
poverty  made  them  the  more  liable  to  stinginess. 

The  churches  conquered  America.  Contrary  to  the 
beautiful  tradition  of  an  early  Golden  Age  for  Amer- 
ican Christianity,  the  fact  is  that  in  1790,  while 
Catholics  were  a  negligible  quantity,  only  four  per 
cent  of  the  population  were  on  Protestant  rolls  as 
against  twenty-five  per  cent  today.  For  each  com- 
munity where  everybody  went  to  church,  there  were 
five  communities  where  churches  scarcely  existed. 
Liberty  was  almost  universally  interpreted  to  in- 
clude moral  and  religious  license.  The  adherence  of 
the  intellectuals  to  infidel  teachings  was  almost  uni- 
versal. Yale  College  had  only  two  avowed  church 
members. 

With  such  conditions,  ministers  had  no  time  to 
think  of  church  efficiency.  For  a  hundred  years  the 
problem  was  to  keep  alive  the  spark  of  religious 
interest,  and  to  carry  the  torch  and  light  spiritual 
fires  in  every  community  in  the  land.  The  world 
never  before  saw  such  a  religious  crusade.  The  popu- 
lation  increased  twenty  fold  but  the  church  mem- 


30  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

bership  increased  a  hundredfold.  Mountains  and 
prairies  and  cities  saw  the  missionary  trail  the 
pioneer.  The  value  of  church  property  in  1900  ex- 
ceeded the  wealth  of  America  under  Jefferson,  while 
our  gift  to  foreign  missions  alone  the  past  year  was 
nearly  double  what  he  paid  for  the  great  Louisiana 
territory.  We  expend  more  wealth  for  religious  pur- 
poses each  year  than  the  nation  produced  during  the 
first  four  years  under  the  constitution. 

Blunderingly,  sometimes  mistakenly,  but  alv/ays 
earnestly,  they  compelled  an  empire  to  consider  God 
and  the  things  of  the  spirit.  We  cannot  estimate  the 
value  of  the  crude  but  effective  efforts  of  these  fathers 
who  conquered  the  American  Continent  for  Christ 
and  the  church  and  hastened  by  centuries  the  con- 
quest of  the  world.  May  God  help  us  to  be  as 
single-hearted  and  unselfish. 

Yet  our  fathers'  wasteful  methods  of  farming  and 
lumbering  and  building  were  paralleled  in  their 
churches.  Their  work  was  too  urgent  to  permit  of 
delay,  so  the  ready-made  European  methods  of  church 
organization  and  work  were  used,  or  methods  im- 
provised for  the  moment.  Religious  highways  like 
city  streets  were  built  on  primitive  cowpath  lines,  and 
congregational  organizations  were  as  primitive  as 
log  cabins. 

The  very  simplicity  of  their  message  and  their 
methods  make  our  problems  the  more  difficult.  Their 
very  success  in  making  church  members  so  fast 
brought  in  millions  who  do  not  understand  what 
Christianity  means.    Their  success  in  raising  money 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        31 

and  doing  other  things  by  unscriptural  methods  which 
interfered  with  true  spiritual  development  leads  many 
to  question  the  wisdom  of  business-like  foresight 
and  scriptural  plans. 

We  must  take  their  crude  work  and,  with  equal 
consecration  and  zeal,  develop  varied  and  compre- 
hensive policies  to  perfect  it.  We  must  make  Chris- 
tians, in  all  the  word  means,  of  those  whom  they 
made  church  members.  We  must  promptly  rebuild 
their  crude  churches  into  spiritual  edifices  and 
organisms  in  keeping  with  the  stupendous  needs  of 
the  present  age.  Let  us  never  criticise  the  past  but, 
with  thankful,  prayerful  hearts,  let  us  complement 
their  sacrifices  by  bringing  the  churches  they  founded 
to  a  greater  power  and  usefulness  than  they 
dreamed  of. 

Unsettled  social  and  intellectual  conditions.  The 
church  must  work  with  institutions  and  individuals 
as  they  are,  adapting  her  methods  to  them,  until  they 
can  be  improved.  But  the  present  era  of  change  is 
moving  the  foundations  of  our  civilization.  The 
very  forces  with  and  for  which  she  must  work,  folks 
and  communities  and  ideals,  are  being  transformed. 
By  means  of  new  inventions,  scientific  discoveries, 
political  developments,  social  theories  and  moral  prin- 
ciples, humanity  is  as  it  were  taking  itself  apart  to 
rebuild  its  ideals  and  institutions  on  a  vastly  enlarged 
scale  and  an  unprecedented  plan. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  church  ministered  to 
people  of  a  very  limited  outlook,  who  lacked  logical 
discrimination,  whose  lives  were  starved  by  want  of 


32  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

education  and  travel  and  leisure,  who  had  few 
recreations  and  fewer  books,  who  lived  simple  lives 
under  simple  conditions.  When  we  read  of  occa- 
sional communities  where  every  one  went  to  church, 
the  retort  is  made  that  "they  had  nowhere  else  to 
go."  The  social  fellowship  before  and  after  church 
was  all  their  starved  lives  had.  Motor  and  street 
cars,  and  movies  and  amusement  parks  were  un- 
known. The  minister  was  the  only  educated  man, 
and  the  church  the  only  meeting-place  for  all  ages, 
in  the  community.  Competition  practically  did  not 
exist  and  a  superstitious  fear  of  the  church  and  of 
the  minister  persisted  from  pre-reformation  times. 

All  this  is  changed.  Human  life  has  been  incom- 
parably enriched,  intellectually  and  otherwise,  by 
higher  wages  and  better  schools,  bath-tubs  and  electric 
lights,  lodges  and  women's  clubs,  commercial  organi- 
zations and  rapid  transit,  telephones  and  rural  mail 
delivery.  Many  people  meet  too  much  with  each 
other.  Leisure  for  thought  is  past.  Each  year  in 
America,  more  lectures  and  entertainments  and 
socials  are  held,  more  miles  are  travelled,  more  new 
books  are  published,  more  money  is  made  and  spent, 
more  college  students  are  graduated,  more  newspaper 
type  is  set,  than  in  the  first  three  centuries  after 
Jamestown  was  settled.  All  these  are  good,  but  mod- 
ern church  policies  and  methods  must  be  developed  to 
deal  with  the  new  humanity  thus  produced. 

The  social  progress  of  each  decade  surpasses  that 
of  the  whole  eighteenth  century.  The  onrushing 
present  is  no  more  like  the  past  than  the  rapids  of 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        33 

the  St.  Lawrence  are  like  peaceful  Ontario.  These 
great  currents,  and  the  mighty  forces  which  have 
caused  and  are  caused  by  them,  are  divinely  ordained 
to  bear  us  through  narrows  and  shallows  to  a  future 
religious  life  as  much  deeper  and  richer  than  that  of 
the  past  as  the  Atlantic  is  deeper  and  vaster  than 
the  lake,  but  passing  the  rapids  places  a  great  strain 
upon  the  Church. 

With  constant  care  and  skill  she  must  steer  her 
safe  course  in  the  channels  of  idealism  and  service, 
avoiding  cataract-like  breaks  with  the  past  such  as 
are  urged  by  impatient  advocates  of  revolutionary 
instead  of  evolutionary  change,  and  avoiding  on 
the  other  hand  the  equally  dangerous  shallows  and 
reactionary  eddies  sought  by  those  timid  souls  who 
are  fearful  of  change  and  of  an  enlarged  religious 
outlook  and  life. 

Having  a  more  intelligent  generation  to  deal  with, 
the  Church  must  to  outsiders  prove  her  faith  by 
works  and  fruits  in  evident  accord  with  those  of  the 
Master  and  with  human  need  and  ideals.  Yet  many 
individuals  and  communities,  drunken  with  draughts 
of  freedom  and  prosperity  and  progress  which  they 
have  not  learned  how  to  use,  will  only  listen  to  the 
stentorian  challenges  of  a  John  the  Baptist  or  a 
Billy  Sunday.  While  others  believe  the  church  to 
maintain  the  moral  and  intellectual  and  practical 
pettiness  of  the  past  and  consider  her  an  agency 
whose  ideals  and  spirit  have  been  outgrown,  so 
that  a  "  come  to  Jesus "  appeal  makes  no  impres- 
sion   until    the    church    proves    emphatically    that 


34  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

it  truly  represents  Jesus,  and  that  He  is  worth  rep- 
resenting. 

Under  such  conditions,  an  ideal  church  plan  or 
program  is  not  possible,  for  that  implies  a  fixed 
environment  and  fixed  conditions.  An  ideal  attained 
is  at  once  outgrown.  Each  church  is  as  it  were  "  on 
a  moving  platform  shooting  at  a  moving  object." 
She  must  seek  to  foresee  the  focal  points  where 
divine  purpose  and  human  progress  intersect,  pre- 
paring the  way  for  an  ideal  church  tomorrow  when 
conditions  have  taken  a  more  stable  form.  She 
must  discover  the  policies  and  develop  leaders  for 
the  task  of  consolidating  tomorrow  the  successes  of 
religion  and  for  carrying  the  battle  forward  to  com- 
plete victory. 

Unsettled  community  life.  American  communi- 
ties are  ever  changing.  Commercial  and  industrial 
and  agricultural  developments  and  fluctuations, 
financial  reverses,  prosperity,  vacations,  schools, 
climate  and  numberless  other  causes  constantly  oper- 
ate to  tear  down  churches  and  hinder  their  efficiency. 
Every  church  is  in  a  measure  reaching  a  procession, 
or  could  and  should  be. 

"  Folks  move  in,  then  move  about,  and  then  move 
out,"  says  an  Ohio  city  pastor  who  reports  that  in 
two  years  he  made  over  900  additions  and  erasures 
and  changes  of  addresses  on  his  rolls,  and  had  still 
only  the  1,700  members  reported  by  his  predecessor. 
An  Iowa  minister  reports  that,  during  a  four-year 
rural  pastorate,  eight  of  his  eleven  original  officers 
died  or   removed.     A   Kansas   town   pastor,   after 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        35 

twenty  years  of  hard  and  successful  work,  reported 
that  he  had  received  over  500  members  and  had  dis- 
missed 18  to  30  to  each  of  four  churches  in  Okla- 
homa, Washington  and  California,  yet  only  17  of  his 
original  292  remained.  A  Pennsylvania  town  pastor 
that,  at  the  close  of  a  thirty-five-year  pastorate,  with 
850  members,  only  18  of  his  original  members  re- 
mained. A  Philadelphia  pastor  reports  1,500  mem- 
bers in  a  church  only  eleven  years  old.  One  family 
told  a  Chicago  pastor  that  they  were  too  unsettled  to 
join  the  church  though  they  had  lived  fourteen  yeafs 
in  the  same  neighbourhood. 

Many  a  pastor  receives  and  dismisses  more  mem- 
bers each  year  than  the  entire  roll  of  the  church 
forty  years  ago.  To  minister  to  these  nomads  so  as 
to  prevent  their  loss  to  the  church  is  a  tremendous 
problem  as  well  as  opportunity.  When  they  do  join, 
tenants  take  less  interest  in  and  do  less  for  the 
church  than  do  home  owners  because  less  familiar 
with  the  church  and  the  community.  Whether  or  not 
they  stay  long  enough  to  be  of  use,  the  church  must 
make  itself  useful  to  them. 

This  means  consecrated  and  persistent  eflfort  with 
expenditure  of  money,  but  no  church  dare  neglect 
this  missionary  task.  Publicity  and  constant  visita- 
tion are  demanded,  with  business-like  efforts  to  find 
and  develop  them  and  to  follow  them  up  when  they 
leave.  They  must  be  captured  for  Christ  and  the 
church  as  soon  as  they  enter  the  new  home,  since 
it  is  vastly  easier  to  tie  them  up  to  the  church  before 
they  are  tied  up  to  other  social  and  fraternal  inter- 


36  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

ests.  District  committees  to  locate  and  welcome 
them,  a  well-equipped  office  with  a  secretary  or  two 
tactfully  turning  a  stream  of  mail  and  visits  to  them, 
an  automobile  for  the  pastor  and  one  or  more  visit- 
ing assistants,  with  adequate  educational  and  social 
policies,  are  essential  for  finding,  winning  and  de- 
veloping them  for  local  service  if  they  remain,  for 
better  service  to  communities  and  churches  to  which 
they  go  if  go  they  do. 

Our  unprecedentedly  heterogeneous  American 
population.  In  all  communities  and  nations,  the 
population  is  more  or  less  diverse,  but  nowhere  else 
is  there  such  a  congeries  of  people.  Imagine  the 
difficulty  of  meeting  the  varied  needs  in  a  church 
whose  pastor  has  received  700  members  who  re- 
ported former  connections  with  102  different  congre- 
gations in  22  states  and  7  nations,  representing  19 
religious  bodies.  Consider  the  problem  of  an  ade- 
quate ministry  in  another  church  having  14  different 
nationalities  represented  in  its  departments,  while 
only  20  per  cent  of  the  adjacent  population  was  of 
native  parentage  and  only  16  per  cent  were  of  any 
one  nationality. 

While  these  are  extreme  cases,  they  present  a  prob- 
lem which  is  universal.  We  find  even  rural  church 
members  separated  by  great  chasms  in  ideals  and 
interests  due  to  their  racial  ancestry,  family  tradi- 
tions, wealth,  ecclesiastical  and  spiritual  antecedents, 
education,  native  talents  and  prejudices,  and  experi- 
ences with  former  pastors  and  church  tasks.  Even 
within  the  same  denomination  are  such  vast  diver- 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS        37 

gences  of  training  that  efficient  harmony  can  be 
developed  only  by  the  wisest  leadership. 

A  church  in  a  Pittsburg  suburb  reports  thirty-nine 
members  who  were  formerly  officers  in  the  churches 
whence  they  came,  for  whom  no  place  has  yet  been 
found  on  the  official  board,  who  mostly  want  to  tell 
how  to  run  the  church  because  they  helped  to  run 
churches  under  utterly  different  conditions  in  their 
varied  communities.  A  Methodist  superintendent 
says,  "  Denominations  are  supposed  to  be  needed  be- 
cause of  various  emotional,  intellectual  and  doc- 
trinal types  but  there  is  no  possible  human  type 
which  we  are  not  now  assimilating  in  some  of  the 
churches  of  my  district.  Methodism  is  being  modi- 
fied thereby,  as  Methodists  who  enter  other  bodies  are 
modifying  them,  so  that  by  and  by  you  cannot  dis- 
tinguish Methodist  or  Presbyterian  or  any  other 
type  for  all  churches  will  be  alike." 

The  American  Church  has  a  great  part  in  the 
great  American  melting  pot.  Its  problems  are  vastly 
greater  than  those  of  the  public  schools  which  deal 
only  with  children  from  five  to  eighteen  and  which 
can  compel  attendance.  The  church  must  deal  with 
the  mature  and  the  immature,  of  all  types,  in  rela- 
tion to  all  their  interests,  and  must  win  and  hold 
them  by  democratic  methods  while  remoulding  ideas 
and  ideals  which  have  to  a  large  extent  already 
taken  form  and  lost  plasticity.  The  management  of 
all  the  elements  of  a  church  so  as  to  develop  a  real 
church  family  unit  out  of  this  confusing  conflict 
of  ideals  and  temperaments,  to  contribute  to  the  soli- 


38  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

darity  of  the  state  and  of  the  world  at  large  while 
maintaining  and  increasing  its  own  local  efficiency 
and  unity — surely  here  is  a  task  demanding  great 
wisdom  and  diligent  study. 

Our  fifty-seven  varieties  of  sects.  In  no  other  land 
and  no  other  age  have  church  problems  been  so 
intensified  and  magnified  by  an  aggravated  sectarian- 
ism. All  Protestant  bodies  of  any  achievement  were 
launched  in  America  by  consecrated  apostles  with  an 
eye  single  to  serving  the  Kingdom,  and,  with  few 
exceptions,  with  a  desire  for  co-operation  with  other 
Christian   churches. 

But  Europe's  national  jealousies  and  sectarian 
controversies  were  soon  manifested.  These  were 
rapidly  amplified  among  ministers  by  that  incomplete 
education  which  is  the  nurse  of  superstition.  The 
common  people  responded  to  sectarian  debates  and 
attacks  because  they  resembled  fisticuffs,  cock-fight- 
ing, political  mud-slinging  and  similar  popular  sports 
of  body  and  mind.  Churches  and  ministers  mistook 
popular  approval  for  divine  sanction  and  proceeded 
to  secure  audiences  and  members  thereby.  Religion 
in  many  places  degenerated  into  such  exhibits  of 
vituperation,  extreme  emotionalism  and  lurid  denun- 
ciations of  Satan  as  secured  the  most  respect  from 
frontiersmen  accustomed  to  the  equivalent  realism  of 
bludgeons,  blasphemy  and  bullets.  The  exaltation  of 
the  Christ  of  the  Bible  became  unimportant  compared 
with  the  chance  to  add  to  denominational  glory  by 
victories  over  "  enemy  "  churches  won  by  blackguard- 
ing them  and  stealing  their  members.    Often  church 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS         39 

officers  were  chosen  and  church  management  was 
directed  to  these  ends,  because  they  got  crowds  and 
money  and  led  to  pastoral  promotion. 

Under  such  conditions,  is  it  any  wonder  that 
churches  lost  most  of  their  original  ideas  and  brother- 
liness,  or  that  we  inherit  from  them  heathenish  carica- 
tures of  Christ  and  utter  misunderstandings  of  faith 
and  experience  and  church  purposes,  plus  a  vast  mul- 
titude of  church  members  with  merely  a  sectarian 
veneer  over  their  original  heathenism  and  material- 
ism? Is  it  any  wonder  that  millions  of  thinking 
people  resorted  to  Tom  Paine's  writings  as  reasonable 
alternatives  to  the  popular  brands  of  religion  and 
joined  lodges  as  being  useful  and  sane  instead  of 
scandalous  fighters  and  emotionalists? 

To  this  day  the  efficiency  of  every  church  is  ham- 
pered at  many  points  because  so  many  churches  in- 
sistently proclaim  the  superiority  of  their  respective 
polities  and  distinctive  minor  doctrines.  Unchurched 
folks  are  bewildered  by  the  variety  of  churches  and 
either  repudiate  them  all  as  prompted  by  selfishness 
and  jealousy  or  take  so  long  to  decide  which  is  best 
that  they  never  join  any.  When  a  minister  seeks  ade- 
quately to  perform  his  duty  by  educating  folks  in  the 
neglected  teachings  of  Christ  and  their  social  and 
moral  implications,  when  he  summons  his  members  to 
perform  their  duties  as  to  living  and  giving  and  pray- 
ing for  the  salvation  of  their  neighbours,  for  social 
redemption  and  for  missions,  they  threaten  to  stay  at 
home  and  cut  ofif  their  support  if  he  does  not  stop 
preaching  these  "  strange  themes," 


40  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

No  church  can  have  an  adequate  financial  support 
when  the  sacrificially  minded  people  scatter  their 
offerings  to  give  a  starvation  support  for  three 
times  the  needed  plants  and  pastors.  Instead  of 
equalling  the  local  church  expenses,  missionary  gifts 
are  but  a  fourth  or  a  tenth  of  what  they  should  be. 
Denied  funds  for  the  books  and  travel  which  would 
broaden  and  freshen  them,  debt-burdened  and  dis- 
turbed as  to  their  future  support,  pastors  attain  only 
from  twenty  to  fifty  per  cent  of  their  possible  effi- 
ciency. Buildings  and  equipment  and  publicity  ex- 
penditures are  utterly  inadequate.  Educational  and 
social  and  office  work  lack  both  the  essential  sup- 
plies and  the  expert  paid  assistants.  Pastors  and 
leaders  who  strive  for  better  conditions  are  pointed 
to  the  lower  per  capita  expenditures  of  the  more 
inefficient  church  down  street. 

Church  discipline  is  weakened  or  ended  by  sec- 
tarian competition.  Drunkards,  misers  and  despoil- 
ers  of  women  and  the  poor  remain  unrebuked  on 
church  rolls  because  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
denominational  glory  and  strength  against  their 
rivals;  and  because  some  church  down  street  would 
receive  the  unrighteous  deserter-under-discipline 
with  his  gifts  without  any  investigation  but  with 
Pharisaical  rejoicing  in  the  "  rescue  of  a  brand  from 
the  burning."  Instead  of  maintaining  Christ's  stand- 
ards, every  applicant,  however  shallow  his  profes- 
sions, is  received  as  a  new  proof  of  divine  favor  for 
the  church  and  its  doctrines  and  polity  while  the 
neighbour  phurch  which  faithfully  stands  for  higher 


MODERN  CHURCH  PROBLEMS         41 

ideals  is  publicly  sneered  at  because  it  grows  slowly. 
The  outsider  conceives  a  bitter  contempt  for  all 
churches  and  their  members  if  he  understands  the 
miscreant  church.  Otherwise  he  is  likely  to  join  it 
instead  of  the  more  efficient  church,  unconscious  of 
the  fuller  blessings  and  development  and  larger  use- 
fulness to  the  Kingdom  which  the  more  faithful 
though  unpopular  church  would  have  brought  him 
by  its  true  vision  and  its  closer  touch  with  God. 

Many  young  people  are  lost  to  the  church.  Hav- 
ing been  taught  community  unity  and  co-operation  in 
other  matters,  they  resent  being  separated  in  reli- 
gion. The  offered  explanations  and  appeals  for 
denominational  loyalty  do  not  appeal  to  them.  If 
they  do  not  develop  a  prejudice  against  religion,  they 
are  likely  merely  to  tolerate  an  agency  which  sepa- 
rates them  from  their  friends  because  of  parental 
pressure,  or  they  go  with  their  intimates  to  other 
churches  than  their  parents  and  break  the  family 
unity  which  is  so  essential  to  church  and  community. 


Ill 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  OF  CHURCH  MAN- 
AGEMENT 

SUCCESSFUL  management  implies  clearly  de- 
fined goals  and  ultimate  objectives.  The  army 
or  school  which  attains  its  highest  efficiency 
must  understand  the  fundamental  ideals  involved  and 
the  ultimate  purposes  and  program  toward  which 
its  immediate  successes  must  contribute.  The  indi- 
vidual church,  both  as  a  school  and  an  army,  cannot 
attafin  to  its  highest  efficiency  save  by  a  careful  study 
of  the  ultimate  goals  of  the  Church  Universal  and 
its  Divine  Leader. 

The  Church  Universal  and  the  Local  Church 

Let  us  keep  in  mind  that  the  Church  Universal,  in 
its  origin  and  history  and  purpose,  is  the  greatest 
of  all  earthly  institutions.  It  is  indeed  more  than 
a  human  institution.  It  was  founded  by  Christ  Him- 
self. It  is  His  Body  and  bears  His  Name.  It  par- 
takes therefore  of  the  nature  of  the  Infinite.  It  is  the 
Sacred  Temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  supreme 
agency  through  which  the  divine  power  is  to  operate 
on  earth.  It  is  a  family  of  God's  sons  and  daughters, 
inaugurated  on  earth  to  continue  and  be  perfected  in 
heaven.    Though  not  an  end  in  itself,  and  not  identi- 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  43 

cal  with  the  Kingdom  of  God,  it  is  the  supreme  means 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom. 

The  significance  of  the  Church  is  notably  under- 
estimated by  its  members  and  even  by  most  of  its 
leaders.  The  Bible,  the  sermon,  the  minister,  the 
Sunday  School,  theology,  architecture  and  other 
church  interests  are  most  important,  but  attention  to 
any  or  all  of  these  cannot  atone  for  our  glaring 
neglect  to  exalt  and  study  the  Church  itself,  its  past 
and  present  achievements,  its  importance  and  author- 
ity for  the  present  and  future,  and  the  perfection  of 
its  life  and  resources  with  the  utmost  of  efficiency  in 
accord  with  its  essential  democracy. 

There  is  but  one  Church  in  all  the  world.  The 
religious  bodies  and  local  congregations  which  we  call 
churches  deserve  the  name  only  because,  and  so  far  as, 
they  participate  in  the  nature  and  tasks  and  ideals  of 
the  Church  Universal.  We  cannot  here  discuss  in  detail 
either  wrong  theories  of  the  Church,  or  the  perverted 
ecclesiasticism  of  mediaeval  Romanism  with  its  denial 
of  spiritual  freedom  and  life  and  democracy,  or  the 
unduly  extreme  reaction  of  Protestantism  therefrom, 
or  the  exaggerated  sectarianism,  or  the  other  causes 
which  have  combined  to  discredit  the  Church  and  to 
obscure  its  true  nature  and  responsibility  and  unity 
and  glory.  We  can  discuss  only  God's  purpose  for 
and  through  it,  in  which  all  churches  share  as  they 
participate  in  the  glory  and  honour  of  being  parts  of 
the  One  Church  of  Christ.  We  believe  it  will,  sooner 
than  we  expect,  become  really  ''  one  that  the  world 
may  believe,"  by  the  advance  of  religious  freedom 


U    MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  intelligence  and  efficiency  which  will  undermine 
the  heresies  of  the  papacy  on  the  one  hand  and  of  an 
unscriptural  sectarianism  on  the  other. 

The  Church  is  Christ's  Earthly  Representative 

We  do  not  assert  that  the  Church  is  an  absolutism, 
or  that  the  Church  is  to  seek  political  powers.  We  do 
assert  that  the  Church  was  instituted  by  our  Lord  to 
continue  the  work  which  He  began;  to  complete  the 
plans  which  He  initiated;  to  constitute  a  functional 
body  through  which  He,  as  the  head,  may  accomplish 
His  divine  and  universal  will.  It  is  clear  that  His 
purpose  and  program  are  obligatory  upon  the  Church 
which  bears  His  name,  which  is  to  the  world  His 
ambassador  and  representative. 

Usually  we  apply  only  to  individual  disciples  such 
expressions  as :  "  The  works  that  I  do  shall  ye  do 
also,  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do,"  and 
"  As  thou  didst  send  me  into  the  world,  even  so  have 
I  sent  them  into  the  world."  But  these  declarations 
apply  even  more  directly  to  the  Church  Universal, 
and  to  its  true  subdivisions,  than  to  individuals. 

What,  then,  are  the  plan  and  program  of  Christ 
for  His  Church?  What  greater  works  is  it  to  do? 
For  what  purposes  was  He  sent  and  for  which  He  in 
turn  sends  His  Church?  What  ideals  for  the  earth 
did  He  express  which  become  binding  upon  the 
Church  ?  What  are  the  divine  far-off  events  towards 
which  the  Church,  and  the  whole  world  under  its 
oversight,  is  to  move,  under  the  providential  lead- 
ings of  the  Founder  and  Lord?    Without  determin- 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  45 

ing  towards  what  ultimate  objectives  it  shall  direct  its 
energies,  a  church  is  like  the  inefficient  man  who  can 
truly  sing,  "  I  don't  know  where  I'm  going  but  I'm  on 
my  way/'  The  first  elements  of  efficiency  are  clears 
cut  purposes  and  definite  goals. 

We  cannot  have  absolute  knowledge  of  the  supreme 
purpose  of  Christ,  because  it  is  infinite  and  we  are 
finite.  We  can  now  know  only  in  part;  but  we  can 
know  much,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been  fulfilling 
Christ's  promise  that  ''  He  will  guide  you  into  all 
truth,"  and  will  continue  so  to  guide  us  just  as  long 
as  He  has  anything  more  to  reveal  and  just  as  fast  as 
the  Church  is  prepared  to  receive  His  further  revela- 
tions. We  shall  examine  various  elements  of  Christ's 
purpose  which  will  enable  us  more  fully  to  apprehend 
His  Supreme  Purpose  and  Goal  which  the  Church 
must  obediently  seek  to  hasten. 

One  purpose  of  Christ  was  and  is  to  bestow  physi- 
cal salvation.  Jesus  sanctified  the  human  body  and  all 
its  functions  by  being  Himself  born  of  woman,  by 
becoming  weary,  by  eating  and  sleeping  and  by  physi- 
cal suffering  on  the  Cross.  That  He  "grew  in 
stature,"  the  resurrection  of  His  body,  and  Paul's 
assertion  that  every  body  should  be  a  temple  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  unite  to  show  the  value  of  human  bodies 
and  the  religious  duty  of  seeking  to  perfect  them  in 
strength  and  beauty.  Jesus  gave  to  John  the  Baptist, 
as  a  proof  of  His  Messiahship,  the  message  that  "  the 
blind  see  and  the  deaf  hear."  He  teaches  that  the 
"  righteous  "  will,  at  the  last  judgment,  enter  into 
the  joy  of  their  Lord  in  large  measure  because  of 


46  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

physical  service,  for  "  I  was  hungry  and  ye  fed  me, 
naked  and  ye  clothed  me,  .  .  .  inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  unto  the  least  of  these  ye  did  it  unto  me."  It  is 
clear  that  the  Church  bearing  His  name  must  con- 
tinue to  perform  similar  ministries,  wherever  there 
are  physical  needs,  of  this  or  future  generations,  or 
better  still  to  see  that  they  are  performed,  and  best  of 
all  to  help  anticipate  or  prevent  them. 

Another  purpose  of  Christ  through  His  Church  is 
the  salvation  of  what  zve  call  the  intellectual  life  of 
men.  Jesus  Himself  possessed  a  reasonable  soul  and 
"  grew  in  wisdom."  He  enjoyed  the  beauties  of 
flowers  and  birds  and  fields.  His  parable  and  teach- 
ings show  a  full  development  of  His  logic  and  imagi- 
nation, and  He  appealed  to  both  the  emotions  and 
the  will.  God  made  man  in  His  own  image,  so  it  is 
evident  that  God  and  men  come  into  their  largest 
and  grandest  fellowship  only  as  men's  minds  are 
developed  so  that  they  may  think  the  thoughts  of  their 
Father-Creator  after  Him.  The  greatest  and  most 
lasting  fruits  have  accompanied  that  Christianity 
which  has  promoted  the  fullest  and  freest  develop- 
ment of  all  intellectual  powers.  Culture  and  art  and 
science  and  history  are  the  handmaids  as  well  as  the 
children  of  Christianity,  and  the  Church  which  is 
loyal  to  the  Christ  who  astonished  the  learned  men  of 
His  day  by  His  intellectuality  will  seek,  as  He  did,  to 
promote  men's  fullest  intellectual  development.  To 
this  end,  the  Church  will  foster  the  progress  of  scien- 
tific and  philosophic  wisdom  and  of  education  in  all 
its  phases  and  forms,  and  will  encourage  the  develop- 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  47 

ment  of  educational  principles  and  practices  to  the 
highest  efficiency  in  all  lands  and  for  all  human 
beings. 

God's  supreme  purpose  includes  the  salvation  of 
society.  Man  is  a  social  being  by  God's  purpose  and 
creation.  The  God  who,  in  the  beginning,  saw  that 
"  it  was  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,"  who  "  setteth 
the  solitary  in  families,"  who  organized  families  into 
tribes  and  nations,  whose  religious  laws  were  largely 
concerned  with  sanitation  and  co-operation  and  with 
the  perfection  of  the  social  machinery  of  the  Hebrews, 
is  the  God  who  lives  today  and  for  whom  Christ 
spoke. 

Christ  recognized  the  universal  social  independence 
of  humanity  and  sanctified  all  social  relations  and 
duties.  He  had  a  mother.  He  was  subject  to  a  father 
and  shared  in  the  duties  and  the  benefits  of  a  family 
of  brothers  and  sisters.  He  assumed  economic  rela- 
tions by  becoming  a  carpenter,  by  labouring  for 
others  and  by  receiving  wages.  He  frequented  feasts 
and  weddings  in  the  homes  of  rich  and  poor.  He 
took  a  vital  interest  in  His  Nazareth  community  and 
in  the  affairs  of  His  nation.  He  paid  taxes  and  He 
denounced  political  grafters  and  the  economic  swin- 
dlers who  robbed  widows'  houses  and  communities. 
He  gave  unprecedented  honours  to  women  and  led 
in  giving  to  children  that  pre-eminence  which  has 
ever  characterized  a  true   Christianity. 

While  He  gave  few  detailed  suggestions  as  to 
wages  and  caste  and  democracy  and  social  justice 
and  progress,  because  these  problems  are  ever  chang- 


48  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

ing  their  form,  His  command  to  "  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself  "  is  at  the  foundation  of  all  progress  in 
these  lines,  and  exacts  far  more  than  the  extreme 
of  political  socialism.  He  enunciated  a  Golden  Rule 
which,  though  often  misinterpreted  by  unspiritual 
leaders,  is  when  fully  analyzed  an  ample  panacea  for 
all  social  ills.  Above  all,  Christ's  gospel  of  individual 
salvation  has  proved  the  most  powerful  dynamite  the 
world  has  ever  known  for  reconstructing  family  and 
community  life,  for  transforming  economic  and  politi- 
cal and  social  conditions,  for  blasting  political  and 
industrial  and  political  tyranny  alike,  for  challenging 
every  individual  and  institution  to  help  secure  for 
every  man  the  right  to  freedom  of  thought  and  a 
chance  to  earn  an  honest  and  ample  living  for  him- 
self and  his  family. 

The  Bible  tells  us  of  a  holy  city  that  is  to  be  on 
earth,  and  that  Christ  wept  over  cities.  Jesus  tells  us 
that  the  command  to  "  love  thy  neighbour  as  thy- 
self "  is  "  like  unto  "  the  command  to  "  Love  God 
with  all  thy  heart  and  soul  and  strength  and  mind." 
We  are  told  that  Christ  came  to  establish  "  peace  on 
earth  and  good  will  to  men,"  and  that  He  commanded 
the  Church  to  "disciple  all  nations,"  which  means 
the  Christianizing  of  the  diplomacy  and  statesmanship 
and  civic  interests  of  nations  as  well  as  the  conver- 
sion of  individuals.  The  Bible  teaches  us  that  "  the 
city  shall  be  full  of  children  playing,"  and  implies  the 
right  of  every  child  to  dwell  among  flowers  and  birds 
as  God  caused  His  first  human  children  to  dwell  in 
Eden. 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  49 

Clearly  the  Church  of  Christ  is  intrusted  with  the 
task  of  helping  to  accomplish  the  regeneration  of  so- 
ciety, with  all  its  institutions  and  interests  and  rela- 
tionships, with  helping  to  establish  God's  plans  and  to 
perfect  the  work  Christ  inaugurated. 

The  purpose  of  God  includes  the  salvation  of  indi- 
vidual souls  from  their  sufferings  and  sins.  In  our 
enthusiasm  because  of  the  rediscovery  of  the  social 
teachings  of  Jesus,  we  are  in  danger  of  swinging  to 
the  other  extreme  and  depreciating  the  salvation  of 
the  spirit.  The  gospel  of  sacrifice  and  of  the  regen- 
eration of  individuals  is  not  bowed  out  of  existence 
by  modem  science.  Heredity  and  environment  make 
it  easier  to  become  and  remain  Christians  and  to 
enter  into  the  full  enjoyment  of  our  spiritual  heritage, 
but  the  Cross  has  an  eternal  significance.  Soup, 
soap,  shirts  and  sleeping-quarters  do  not  constitute 
perfection,  for  Newport  and  Palm  Beach  palaces  are 
not  inhabited  entirely  by  saints.  Christianity  is  a  new 
life  and  no  note  is  more  consistently  sounded  in  the 
New  Testament  than  that  "  Ye  must  be  born  again  " ; 
that  the  life  must  be  developed  "  which  is  life  indeed." 

Social  salvation  and  individual  salvation  are  neces- 
sary each  to  the  other.  God  is  concerned  with  per- 
fecting the  physical  natures  and  intellectual  powers 
and  social  relations  of  men,  because  these  are  the 
temples  in  which  dwell  the  spirits  of  His  sons  and 
daughters.  The  importance  of  salvation  for  the  life 
that  now  is  finds  its  explanation  and  its  perfection  in 
eternal  life.  Sin  is  the  great  obstruction  to  the  divine 
will  which   must  be   recognized,   repented   of  and 


50  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

abandoned  by  those  who  would  attain  to  their  full 
stature  and  their  infinite  inheritance  as  children  of 
an  infinitely  holy  as  well  as  an  infinitely  wise  God. 

A  young  child,  living  with  an  earthly  father  and 
an  elder  brother,  gradually  grows  into  their  character 
and  likeness  and  comes  into  perfect  understanding  of, 
and  co-operation  with,  their  purposes  and  work.  To 
have  similar  friendly  and  intimate  personal  fellow- 
ship with  Him  and  with  His  Son  in  order  to  grow 
into  their  likeness  is  the  supreme  possibility  and  glory 
and  blessing  of  each  human  being.  This  the  Church 
must  help  them  to  attain  on  earth  and  for  heaven, 
both  for  their  own  sakes  and  for  the  sake  of  their 
Heavenly  Father,  whose  heart  is  saddened  and  whose 
plans  are  hindered  by  every  prodigal  son  and  daugh- 
ter and  by  each  spiritually  stunted  and  morally 
dwarfed  child.  Thus  they  and  He  are  deprived  of 
the  joy  and  blessing  of  mutual  fellowship  and  part- 
nership. 

The  purpose  of  God  includes  the  salvation  of  all 
men,  of  every  colour  and  language,  of  all  nations  and 
communities.  We  need  not  rehearse  here  the  many 
ways  in  which  Christ  teaches  His  Church  that  He 
died  ''  that  whosoever  will "  might  be  saved.  The 
Bible  is  a  missionary  book.  As  God  made  all  men, 
so  Christ  died  for  all,  and  the  Church  must  make 
Christ's  death  worth  while,  must  complete  His  work, 
by  bringing  to  all  human  beings  a  convincing  knowl- 
edge and  appreciation  of  their  possibilities  as  children 
of  the  Most  High,  and  of  the  work  and  purposes  of 
Christ  for  them.    To  ignore  the  missionary  duty  of 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  51 

Christ's  Church  is  to  ignore  the  last  and  most  sacred 
words  of  Christ,  and  to  rebel  against  Him  who  has 
made  the  Church  possible. 

The  purpose  of  God  includes  the  redemption  of  the 
earth  itself,  the  discovery  and  full  development  of  all 
its  forces  and  features.  In  Genesis,  we  read  that 
God  gave  to  man,  along  with  the  command  to  *'  mul- 
tiply and  replenish  the  earth,"  the  commission  to  sub- 
due it  and  have  dominion  over  it  and  all  that  in  it  is. 
Modern  science  teaches  the  unity  of  the  universe.  As 
we  awake  to  the  immanence  of  God, — to  His  author- 
ship of  gravity  and  electricity,  of  animal  and  vegetable 
life,  of  the  laws  and  forces  which  underlie  invention 
and  commerce,  of  agriculture  and  art, — finding  that 
"  by  Him  the  worlds  were  made  and  without  Him  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made,"  we  see  that  it  is 
a  religious  duty  to  insure  the  fullest  development  of 
soils  and  machinery,  of  fruits  and  grains,  as  well  as 
of  the  sciences  of  conserving  and  distributing  the 
products  of  the  earth.  We  are  abandoning  that 
heresy,  introduced  into  Christianity  from  heathen 
sources  and  established  by  an  unscriptural  Romanism, 
that  some  things  are  secular  and  others  are  sacred. 
We  now  understand  that  God  made  all  things  good 
and  that  there  is  nothing  unholy  or  secular  in  the 
world  save  sin. 

To  quote  Dr.  G.  Campbell  Morgan,*  "  The  mis- 
sionary commission  given  in  Mark  i6:  15  is  all  too 
superficially  considered.  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  cosmos  ' 
does  not  merely  mean  to  travel  over  the  surface  of  the 
*"The  Missionary  Manifesto,"  pp.  20,  21. 


52  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

earth  and  speak  to  men:  the  term  cosmos  here  in- 
cludes man  and  everything  beneath  him  .  .  .  refers 
to  the  whole  earth  in  its  order,  its  beauty  and  its 
forces  ...  all  hidden  treasures,  its  boundless  re- 
sources, its  yet  undiscovered  secrets  .  .  .  beasts, 
birds  and  flowers,  ...  in  order  to  the  discovery  and 
utilization  of  the  secret  resources  of  the  earth,  so 
that  the  whole  may  become  a  thing  of  glorious  beauty. 
.  .  .  He  created  man  and  gave  him  dominion  over  the 
whole  creation  in  order  to  its  development  and  per- 
fecting. 

"  .  .  .He  also  gives  to  the  Church  today  the 
charge  to  pass  out  into  contact  with  the  cosmos  and 
to  proclaim  to  the  whole  creation  the  story  of  His 
victory.  .  .  .  The  Church  must  always  begin  with 
man  but  she  must  not  forget  that  the  emphasis  of  the 
commission  in  Mark  is  that  the  ultimate  result  of 
man's  remaking  is  the  renewal  of  the  whole  creation. 
He  will  be  able  to  restore  the  cosmos  to  its  order 
and  lead  it  to  the  fulfilment  of  divine  purposes  .  .  . 
the  garden  of  a  Christian  man  ought  to  be  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  whole  district.  When  it  is  not  so, 
he  is  not  living  in  the  full  power  of  the  risen  Christ. 

"  The  conception  of  Christian  responsibility  which 
aims  at  the  saving  of  men  while  it  is  careless  of  the 
*  groaning  of  creation '  is  out  of  harmony  with  the 
meaning  of  this  commission.  .  .  .  Those  who  fulfil 
this  commission  shall  be  accompanied  by  the  Lord 
Himself,  co-operating  with  them  in  the  communica- 
tion of  the  divine  life  by  the  spirit."  These  words 
of  Dr.  Morgan  need  no  comment.    Agriculture  and 


THE  SUPREME  GOALS  53 

mining  and  engineering  and  all  the  human  activities 
which  look  towards  "  subduing  the  earth  "  are  spiritu- 
ally commanded  and  the  Church  must  recognize  and 
encourage  their  proper  prosecution  as  sacred  religious 
tasks. 

Finally,  the  purpose  of  God  includes  the  complete 
reconstruction  of  this  earth  into  "  a  new  earth."  We 
have  the  summing  up  of  the  stupendous  task  which 
Christ  undertook,  and  intrusted  to  the  Church  to 
complete,  in  the  vision  given  on  Patmos  (Rev.  21 :  i). 
The  new  heavens  which  we  know,  as  compared  with 
the  Jewish  and  heathen  heavens,  are  God's  creation. 
The  task  of  establishing  a  New  Earth  was  only  begun 
by  Christ  and  its  completion  is  intrusted  to  the  man- 
agement of  His  Church.  Every  church  is  bound  to 
nothing  less  than  to  help  answer  the  prayer  which 
Christ  taught  us,  "  Thy  Kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be 
done,  as  in  heaven  so  on  earth." 

As  in  heaven  there  are  no  commercial  or  indusr 
trial  or  diplomatic  or  social  or  spiritual  institutions 
or  practices  which  do  not  conform  to  thie  will  of  God, 
so  it  must  be  on  earth.  Ignorance,  poverty,  economic 
inefficiency,  waste  land,  unused  economic  and  ma- 
terial forces,  disease,  selfishness,  sin  in  its  national 
and  community  and  family  and  individual  forms, — all 
these  are  contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  so  the  Church 
must  seek  their  eradication  and  abolition.  Every- 
thing on  earth  must  be  brought  into  subjection  to 
God's  perfect  and  holy  will,  that  His  Kingdom  may 
come  over  all  and  His  will  for  the  earth  may  be  ac- 
complished as  it  is  in  heaven.    The  Church  which 


54  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

does  not  hope  and  pray  and  work  for  this  as  its 
supreme  goal  has  so  far  failed  fully  to  appreciate 
Christ's  purpose  for  it  and  cannot  be  fully  efficient. 
It  aims  only  at  half-way  goals  and  lacks  the  courage 
and  power  that  come  from  divine  responsibilities  and 
visions. 

In  Conclusion 

We  do  not  mean  that  the  Church  is  to  do  all  these 
things  but  that  it  is  responsible  for  getting  them  done. 
When  Christ  fed  the  five  thousand,  He  used  resources 
of  many  forms ;  loaves  and  fishes,  and  the  small  boy 
who  brought  them,  organization  and  system,  prayer, 
and  twelve  disciples  to  attend  to  the  details  and  deal 
with  the  individuals.  So  the  Church,  setting  forth 
the  purposes  of  Christ  for  the  world,  will  use  com- 
merce, agriculture,  governments  and  other  institu- 
tions; wealth,  system,  men  and  inventions.  With 
prophetic  authority,  it  will  summon  and  mobilize  all 
earth's  resources,  co-ordinating  and  using  them  in  the 
wisest  possible  ways,  to  accomplish  the  divine  pur- 
pose. The  Church  is  not  to  do  all  things  directly  but 
to  insure  that  the  work  is  done,  using  every  good  gift 
of  God  to  that  end,  for  by  the  Church  all  things  are 
*'  to  work  together  for  good." 

Each  local  church  must  seek  to  accomplish  its  part 
directly  and  indirectly,  and  in  every  way  possible  to 
co-operate  with  the  Church  Universal  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  these  ends. 


IV 

TEN  ESSENTIALS  OF  SUCCESSFUL 
CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

HAVING  noted  the  chief  problems  of  church 
management,  our  next  step  is  to  make  a 
brief  survey  of  the  essentials  of  a  successful 
modern  church.  We  shall  take  as  it  were  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  church  that  is  worthy  to  be  called  efficient. 
Of  course  we  must  here  assume  those  elements  of 
church  success  which  are  superhuman.  The  object 
of  human  church  management  is  to  accomplish  that 
reasonable  purpose  which  God  requires — the  utmost 
utilization  of  all  the  material  and  human  forces,  the 
wisdom  and  strategy,  and  the  divinely  appointed  co- 
operating social  agencies  and  resources,  which  God 
has  put  at  the  command  of  the  church — as  a  prelimi- 
nary condition  of  power  in  prayer,  and  of  that  divine 
aid  which  Jesus  asked  only  when  He  had  done  all  that 
human  wisdom  and  foresight  could  do  towards  feeding 
the  five  thousand.  The  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,"  like  all  other  scriptural  offers,  has  practical 
conditions.  It  puts  no  premium  on  that  attitude  of 
indolence  or  of  heathenish  superstition  which  excuses 
itself  from  wisdom  and  sacrifice  and  strenuous  effort 
on  the  plea  that  God  will  save  the  heathen  or  build 
up  the  Church  and  its  members  if  we  will  only  pray. 
55 


56  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

We  should  pray  before  we  plan  and  work  but  prayer 
is  folly  unless  we  do,  as  individuals  and  as  churches, 
everything  that  God  has  put  within  our  power.  Only 
when  men  have  exhausted  their  possibilities  will  God 
help  them  to  do  impossibilities. 

The  first  essential  of  an  efficient  church  is  a  trul'^ 
scriptural  program,  a  comprehensive  and  balanced 
objective.  Balance  is  as  essential  to  the  health  and 
efficiency  of  a  church  as  of  minds  and  bodies.  An 
ill-balanced  pursuit  of  fads,  or  of  good  but  partial 
policies,  in  a  church  as  in  an  individual,  may  well 
be  termed  insanity,  or  absence  of  that  sanity  which 
is  health.  _Five  scriptural  ideals  and  duties  are  es- 
sential in  every  intelligent  and  sane  church.       ^ 

First,  every  church  must  seek  to^  evangelize^  or 
better,  as  Jesus  puts  it  in  His  last  commandLlQ-niaKil 
jdisciples  of,  individuals.  This  means  vastly  more 
than  getting  people  to  join  the  church,  frightening 
them,  or  making  them  cry.  A  disciple  is  a  pupil,  and 
many  supposed  converts  due  to  hysterical  and  sec- 
tarian exhortations,  falsely  called  evangelism,  are  in 
no  sense  worthy  to  be  called  pupils  of  Christ.  They 
are  emotionalists,  selfish  seekers  of  present  profit  or 
praise,  prudent  pursuers  of  eternal-life  insurance, 
or,  at  best,  Christ-admirers.  True.,e.van^[elism  suc- 
'  ceeds  in  seeking  to  lead  men  and  women  to  become 
diligent  students  of  the  ideals,  purposes,  principles 
and  practices  of  Jesus,  accepting  Him  as  their  su- 
preme Teacher  as  well  as  Saviour.  No  man  is  fully 
evangelized  until  he  has  a  clear  conviction  that  his 
highest  happiness  and  usefulness  will  come  from  mak- 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  57 

ing  Jesus  his  absolute  Lord,  and  from  a  persistent 
study  and  practice  of  all  that  He  taught. 

jecond,  the  efficient  church  wjlLcpnform  to  His 

instruction  as  to  ''  teaching  them,  to.  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  command."  Religious  education  is  the 
chief  function  of  the  Church  today,  yet  many  a  church 
has  largely  or  wholly  ignored  this  last  command  of 
Jesus,  allowing  its  converts  to  be  content  with  ma- 
triculation instead  of  emphasizing  their  urgent  duty 
to  press  on  towards  graduation  in  Christ's  school  of 
grace  and  knowledge  and  life.  One  reason  for  loss 
of  power  and  prestige  by  the  Church  is  her  content 
with  mothering  spiritual  babes,  making  little  or  no 
effort  to  help  them  to  "  grow  up  in  all  things  "  unto 
"  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ," 
or  to  develop  them  to  that  point  of  Christlikeness 
where  onlookers  will  not  need  to  be  assured  that  they 
are  church  members 'iDut  will  involuntarily  call  them 
Christians  as  at  Antioch.  The  Church  must  redouble 
her  efforts  to  make  her  members  real  students,  to 
induce  every  child  and  adult  to  attend  both  the 
preaching  and  the  teaching  services  and  to  study  at 
home  to  master  "  all  things  whatsoever  "  Jesus  com- 
manded and  their  applications  to  individual  and  social 
life.  Educational  plans  must  provide,  for  every  stu- 
dent member  of  church  and  school,  opportunities  for, 
and  oversight  in  performing,  such  practice  work  as 
they  need.  In  teaching  religion,  as  in  arithmetic  or 
art,  it  is  necessary  that  problems  and  tasks  be  pro- 
vided each  pupil  which  involve  the  immediate  applica- 
tion and  mastery  of  every  principle  taught.     The 


68  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

school  of  church  and  community  religious  service  is  as 
important  as  the  school  of  instruction,  involving  a 
radical  change  of  emphasis  in  church  plans. 

The  third  duty  of  each  church„is_to  seek  the  Chrisj 
tianization  of  the'social  order.  The  last  command  of 
Jesus,  to  make  disciples  and  to  teach  "  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever,"  applied  not  merely  to  every  crea- 
ture but  to  *'  all  nations."  The  word  which  Jesus 
used  applies  to  all  corporate  social  life  including 
community  and  racial  interests,  government  and  in- 
dustry and  science  and  education.  The  Church  must 
evangelize  all  these,  teaching  their  voters  and  rulers 
that  God  is  the  God  of  all  social  interests  and  that 
they  can  find  their  highest  development  and  perfec- 
tion only  by  conformity  to  the  infinitely  wise  and 
loving  will  of  Him  in  whom  they  had  their  origin 
and  have  their  continued  being  and  progress.  The 
Church  must  summon  all  human  institutions  which  it 
can  reach  to  observe  all  the  principles  and  serve  all 
the  purposes  of  Christ,  making  Him  their  supreme 
Teacher  and  King. 

Besides  her  ministry  of  evangelizing  and  teaching 
social  institutions,  the  Church  often  will  need  to 
exemplify  her  words  and  clarify  her  message  by 
temporarily  opening  schools,  hospitals,  gymnasiums 
and  homes  for  children  and  for  the  aged,  and  by 
other  forms  of  social  service.  These  will  give  her 
students  practice  in  their  lessons,  and  will  provide 
for  the  fuller  development  and  for  the  perfection  of 
the  environment  of  those  whom  she  is  teaching.  But 
her  primary  duty  is  not  to  do  these  things  but  to 


v\ 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  59 

have  them  done,  to  call  society  in  its  organized 
capacities  to  meet  all  human  needs,  and  to  insure  uni- 
versal health  and  social  development  and  economic 
opportunity  and  justice  as  well  as  popular  education 
and  military  defense. 

Fourth,  the  Church  must  perform  the  missionary 
function,  constantly  presented  in  the  Bible,  of  seek- 
ing to  make  disciples  of  all  individuals  and  communi- 
ties and  nations  throughout  the  world,  so  that  every 
human  being  and  group  may  realize  the  pre-eminence 
of  religion  and  of  Jesus,  may  fully  practise  His  teach- 
ings and  their  applications,  may  see  in  Him  their 
Saviour,  and  may  make  Him  their  King.  Not  only 
for  the  sake  of  lands  and  peoples  yet  unreached,  but 
for  the  spiritual  and  moral  welfare  of  present  Chris- 
tians and  of  their  descendants  also,  it  is  necessary 
to  project  the  evangelistic  and  educational  and 
social  functions  of  the  Church  until  the  earth  shall 
be  filled  with  the  knowledge  and  service  of  the  Lord 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea.  No  individual  or  nation 
or  community  is  fully  and  finally  saved  until  all  are 
saved  and  the  contagions  of  evil  and  ignorance  and 
injustice  and  sin  are  eliminated  from  God's  world. 

The  fifth  specific  duty  of  the  Church  is  to  seek  her 
own  welfare  and  building,  year  by  year  and  genera- 
tion by  generation.  The  Church  is  not  an  end  but  a 
means,  like  all  other  social  and  material  resources. 
But  since  she  is  the  supreme  agency  by  which  all 
things  shall  be  made  to  work  together  for  the  hasten- 
ing of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  she  must  seek,  while 
serving,  to  increase  her  own  prestige  and  power  to 


60  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

serve,  both  by  increasing  and  improving  the  quality 
of  her  members  and  equipment,  by  perfecting  her 
own  corporate  organization  and  her  strategy,  and  by 
seeking  to  achieve  the  answer  to  the  prayer  of  her 
Lord  that  "  they  all  may  be  one  that  the  world  may 
believe." 

The  second  essential  of  an  efficient  church  is  an 
adequate  parish  program  based  on  a  careful  survey. 
Before  developing  His  plans  for  feeding  the  five  thou- 
sand, Jesus  took  account  of  the  loaves  and  fishes 
available  as  well  as  of  the  number  to  be  fed.  So  the 
Church  should  seek  to  ascertain  all  the  facts,  social 
and  religious,  which  will  affect  her  work,  as  a  basis 
for  far-sighted  planning  and  a  wise  program. 

Every  church  should  secure,  and  maintain  as  fresh 
and  accurate  as  possible,  full  information  concerning 
her  people,  her  prospects,  her  community  and  her- 
self. After  making  a  community  census  and  a  com- 
plete constituency  roll,  she  can  develop  an  evangelistic 
program.  When  she  has  analyzed  the  needs  of  her 
members  and  the  abilities  of  her  teachers  and  leaders, 
she  can  formulate  programs  for  education  and  serv- 
ice which  will  properly  develop  her  children,  her 
adult  spiritual  illiterates  and  those  whom  God  can 
use  for  largest  leadership.  When  she  has  carefully 
investigated  the  social  needs  of  her  members  and  of 
the  community,  she  can  decide  whether  it  is  wiser 
to  provide  charity  for  the  poor,  indoor  and  outdoor 
play  facilities  with  proper  environment,  an  employ- 
ment bureau  and  a  kindergarten;  to  seek  the  co- 
operation of  all  Christian  forces  in  so  doing;  or 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  61 

immediately  to  challenge  the  community  to  meet  the 
specific  needs.  She  can  decide  whether  she  should 
make  her  missionary  gifts  equal  to  her  local  expendi- 
tures, whether  she  shall  first  undertake  a  stewardship 
or  a  building  campaign,  whether  she  should  seek  a  site 
with  fewer  competing  churches,  or  whether  it  is  pos^ 
sible  to  secure  such  a  church  federation  program 
as  will  vastly  benefit  all  interests. 

Too  often  a  religious  or  social  community  survey 
has  been  the  end  rather  than  the  beginning  of  a  pro- 
gram. An  aggressive  Efficiency  or  Program  Com- 
mittee should  immediately  formulate  a  program 
on  the  basis  of  the  survey. 

Frequently  a  tentative  or  definite  program  can 
be  outlined  without  a  survey  on  the  basis  of  clearly 
evident  facts,  details  being  assembled  later  to  chal- 
lenge the  rank  and  file  to  follow  leaders  who  already 
know  what  should  be  done.  The  program  and  its 
performance  are  the  main  things.  But  the  more 
complex  the  field  and  the  larger  the  church,  the  more 
urgent  is  an  accurate  census  and  fact-gathering. 
"  How  to  Win  "  and  other  volumes  specified  in  the 
appendix  will  guide  in  gathering  and  analyzing  the 
facts. 

When  the  war  opened  in  19 14,  Germany  had  a 
vast  advantage  in  an  almost  perfect  knowledge  of  the 
territory  over  which  her  armies  were  to  move  to  cap- 
ture Paris  and  Warsaw.  As  a  German  sympathizer 
wrote,  "  We  had  mapped  every  forest  and  stream, 
every  coal  and  iron  mine,  every  garrison  and  gun- 
site,  every  railroad  and  resting-place.    We  had  made 


62  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

an  accurate  survey  of  the  men  and  money  and  ma- 
chinery available  and  all  plans  for  their  mobilization. 
We  had  anticipated  every  emergency  from  the  loss  of 
a  horseshoe  to  the  defeat  of  a  division.  Our  only 
oversight  was  failure  to  insure  the  neutrality  of  Eng- 
land." It  is  said  that  her  plans  were  made  years  in 
advance  and  were  constantly  improved. 

Christian  warfare  should  be  planned  with  equal 
care  and  foresight.  Each  church  should  formulate 
a  large  program  of  advance  for  ten  years,  if  not  for  a 
generation;  continually  adjusting  it  to  changing  con- 
ditions, resources  and  strategy.  The  work  of  each 
year  and  the  sermon  and  service  activities  of  each 
month  should  be  definitely  though  tentatively  out- 
lined. See  "  A  Modern  Church  Program  "  for  sug- 
gestions as  to  details. 

An  adequate  and  efficient  working  force  is  the  next 
essential  in  a  church  or  any  other  institution.  In 
analyzing  the  secrets  of  military  efficiency,  Napoleon 
is  said  to  have  named  numbers  first.  If  Jesus  had 
not  used  all  of  the  Twelve  to  distribute  the  loaves 
and  fishes,  the  work  would  have  delayed  until  dark- 
ness had  come  and  many  were  faint. 

Whether  God  is  on  the  side  of  the  largest  battalions 
or  not.  His  side  will  win  more  quickly,  other  things 
being  equal,  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  His  bat- 
talions. In  the  days  of  the  apostles,  churches  grew 
[apace  because  every  one  worked.  The  Protestant 
J  church  will  ever  be  in  a  bad  way  when  "nobody 
works  but  the  preacher  and  the  heads  of  depart- 
ipents."    The  philosophy  that  "  we  hire  the  minister 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  63 

to  do  the  work  "  is  as  unscriptural  and  Catholic  as 

'  it  is  destructive. 

It  is  folly  to  expect  highest  efficiency  so  long  as 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  members  do  only  five  or  ten 
per  cent  of  the  work.  Until  it  has  emulated  modem 
military  science  in  mobilizing  every  individual,  the 
able-bodied  at  the  front  and  others  helping  where 
they  can,  even  the  aged  and  the  infirm  and  the  chil- 
dren doing  their  largest  possible  bit,  the  Kingdom  will 
wait.  Modern  political  science  recognizes  that  each 
one  who  consumes  and  fails  to  produce  is  really  a 
sort  of  pauper,  to  be  regarded  as  a  public  enemy  un- 
less really  incapacitated.  The  churches  must  summon 
their  idlers  to  become  soldiers  of  the  common  good. 
"  Church  member "  must  become  synonymous  with 
"  church  worker."  The  pastors  must  be  relieved  from 
most  of  the  routine  work  to  give  their  time  chiefly 
to  efficient  leadership  as  teachers  and  executives. 
Technical  training  was  specified  by  Napoleon  as  an 

j  element  in  military  success.  While  we  still  prefer 
that  our  employees  shall  know  a  little  about  many 
things,  we  are  unsatisfied  unless  they  know  all  about 
the  something  for  which  we  engage  them.  Instead  of 
calling  a  handy  man  to  build  a  house,  we  insist  on 
specialists  in  architecture,  cement  work,  stone-cut- 
ting, bricklaying,  plumbing,  etc. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War  the  South  had  a 
great  advantage  in  the  number  of  her  graduates  from 
West  Point  and  from  Southern  military  schools. 
Recent  events  emphasize  in  thunderous  tones  the  im- 
portance  of  specialized  military   training.     Skilled 


64  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

aeroplane  operators,  submarine  engineers,  machine 
gunners,  surgeons,  artillerists,  cavalrymen  and  other 
war-time  specialists  must  have  their  counterparts  in 
workers  trained  for  special  departments  of  church 
activity. 

Training  multiplies  the  value  of  a  soldier.  As  it  is 
useless,  and  injures  the  morale  of  an  army,  to  tise  men 
for  tasks  before  they  are  prepared,  the  church 
which  attains  success  will  see  that  all  members  are 
fitted  for  their  tasks  lest  they  do  harm  rather  than 
good  and  lest  they  become  discouraged  and  discourage 
other  workers  by  their  failures. 

Efficient  generals  and  boards  of  strategy  become 
increasingly  important  elements  in  the  successful 
prosecution  of  a  war,  as  of  every  great  railroad,  store 
or  other  enterprise.  The  Church  must  also  recognize 
the  increased  complexity  of  her  task  by  developing 
strategists  as  well  as  preachers,  or  her  geniuses  will 
preach  to  empty  pews,  unknown  to  the  world;  or 
will  merely  build  up  audiences  which  fall  to  pieces 
when  the  genius  passes,  as  in  the  case  of  Talmadge 
and  others.  The  Church  must  take  the  offensive 
instead  of  waiting  for  folks  to  attack  her  or 
to  come  to  church.  She  must  develop  varied  re- 
sources and  keep  them  all  in  the  efficiency  and 
proportion. 

Her  modem  conditions  demand  an  employed  staff. 
The  large  church  must  spend  as  much  money  per 
member  as  her  smaller  neighbour.  Her  efficiency 
demands  executive  and  educational  and  social  and 
office  workers,  co-operating  like  an  army's  general 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  65 

staff.  The  small  church  must  have  its  volunteer  staff 
of  committee  and  department  heads. 

The  modern  Church  must  have  vastly  increased 
financial  resources.  This  is  the  age  of  increased 
wealth.  "  God  is  giving  the  Christian  world  vastly 
increased  financial  resources  because  He  needs  vastly- 
increased  funds  for  His  business,  and  feels  that  He 
can  trust  Christians  to  be  honest  and  give  Him  His 
due  share,  instead  of  spending  it  all  on  themselves." 
When  He  organized  the  Hebrew  church,  God  called 
for  large  shares  of  all  incomes  accruing  to  them  as 
stewards  of  the  land,  and  of  the  *' power  to  get 
wealth,"  which  He  gave  them.  He  still  expects  and 
needs  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  incomes  of  Amer- 
icans to  do  His  growing  work,  though  He  has  not  yet 
received  one-fourth  of  it. 

A  church,  like  an  army,  cannot  be  fully  effective 
unless  there  be  an  income  adequate  to  employ  needed 
workers  and  provide  ample  equipment.  Lincoln  gave 
large  credit  to  the  great  financier,  who,  when  the 
treasury  was  empty  and  credit  was  ebbing,  secured 
the  funds  which  enabled  the  North  to  pay  her  sol- 
diers and  press  on  to  victory.  Robert  Morris  per- 
formed a  similar  service  for  Washington. 

Many  a  war  has  been  lost  for  want  of  money,  and 
many  a  church  is  dropping  behind  its  neighbours 
and  its  community  in  growth  and  influence  because 
of  financial  conditions.  Ministers  fail  by  thousands 
because  they  lack  adequate  tools  and  equipment, 
autos,  libraries,  convention  expenses,  etc.,  and  be- 
cause their  energies  are  absorbed  in  making  ends 


66    MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

meet  and  in  worry  about  the  future.  Lacking  funds 
to  make  the  church  attractive  inside  and  out,  unable 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  young  people  and  of  the 
community,  without  means  for  advertising,  adequate 
success  is  impossible. 

Christ  did  not  ask  God's  blessing  until  He  gath- 
ered all  the  loaves  and  fishes  available,  yet  many  a 
church  foolishly  seeks  God's  miraculous  aid  though 
it  has  brought  only  one  loaf  or  one  dollar  where  it 
should  have  brought  five.  The  efficient  church  will 
ask  for  and  secure  a  vastly  increased  share  of  the 
income  of  its  members.  The  Church  of  God  needs 
it.  Such  giving  will  be  the  best  spiritual  antidote 
to  the  sin  of  "  covetousness  which  is  idolatry,"  which 
leads  church  members  to  make  the  awful  mistake  of 
claiming  as  their  very  own  that  which  they  merely 
hold  as  stewards  who  must  give  account  to  God,  the 
owner.  The  average  church  should  raise  $25.00  per 
member  per  year,  for  salaries  for  minister  and 
assistants,  for  publicity,  social,  educational,  mission- 
ary and  other  purposes.  Several  denominations 
already  do  this.  The  Seventh  Day  Adventists,  though 
poor,  average  over  $40.00  per  member. 

Many  of  my  experiences  prove  that  50  to  75  per 
cent  can  be  added  to  the  income  of  the  average  church. 
To  secure  adequate  financial  resources,  an  efficient 
committee  should  follow  the  suggestions  in  "  Modern 
Church  Finance."     (See  Appendix.) 

Efficient  modern  churches  must  have  complete 
modern  plants  and  equipment.  By  marvellous  new 
discoveries  and  inventions,  the  world  has  been  made 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  67 

new  during  the  last  fifty  years.  Farmers  have 
abandoned  log  houses  and  scythes  and  sickles  for 
modern  homes  and  barns,  for  a  bewildering  variety 
of  new  machinery  for  ploughing  and  cultivating  and 
harvesting,  for  gasoline  engines  and  dynamite,  for 
silos  and  autos.  Merchants  have  introduced  tele- 
phones, typewriters,  cash  registers,  refrigerators  and 
trucks.  Armies  have  turned  from  the  old  armament 
to  the  more  efficient  Big  Berthas,  machine  guns,  dread- 
naughts,  explosives  and  submarines.  What  can  an 
army  do  without  an  armament  equal  to  that  of  its 
opponents  ? 

In  every  field,  fabulous  values  in  old  equipment 
have  gone  to  the  scrap  heap  to  give  place  to  modem 
improvements.  A  multimillionaire  steel  manufac- 
turer credits  the  vastness  of  his  fortune  to  his  cour- 
age and  foresight  when  he  installed  entirely  new 
equipment,  at  the  risk  of  bankruptcy.  It  reduced 
costs  and  increased  output,  so  as  to  give  him  ten 
millions  in  increased  profits  while  his  competitors 
continued  to  "  economize  by  wearing  out  their  old 
equipment  which  was  too  good  to  throw  away." 

Efficient  modern  church  management  will  be 
marked  by  the  same  effort  to  secure  and  make  effi- 
cient use  of  all  promising  new  tools  and  equipment 
from  departmental  classrooms  to  duplex  envelopes, 
from  religious  motion  pictures  to  addressographs  and 
complete  modern  office  equipment,  from  kitchen  and 
social  rooms  to  a  * 'pastor's  auto  "  to  save  his  time 
when  visiting. 

While  a  new  church  in  a  new  community  may  sue- 


68  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

ceed  for  a  time  with  very  limited  equipment  because 
the  members'  hopes  are  in  the  future,  their  continued 
sacrifices  must  be  secured  in  behalf  of  the  best  new- 
things  money  can  buy  or  their  own  interest  will  de- 
teriorate. Their  children  will  classify  the  church  as 
less  deserving  than  their  homes  and  schools  which 
get  the  best  there  is.  New  and  old  comers  alike  will 
judge  the  church  to  be  "  dedicated  to  a  has-been 
God,"  rather  than  to  the  God  of  the  New  Testament 
who  emphasizes  His  purpose  to  "make  all  things 
new." 

The  modern  Church  must  modernize  her  methods. 
Such  successful  merchants  as  Marshall  Field  have 
ever  used  the  newest  and  best.  Wanamaker  put 
most  of  his  first  day's  sales  into  an  advertisement 
unprecedented  for  such  a  new  business.  These  men 
departed  from  the  ancient  policy  when  they  marked 
their  goods  in  plain  figures  and  held  to  one  price 
though  they  were  told  it  was  certain  to  bankrupt 
them.  They  developed  stores  handling  almost  every 
kind  of  goods  though  experience  said  "  stick  to  one 
line."  They  broke  hundreds  of  other  precedents  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  "  let-well-enough-alones." 

War  strategy  has  been  revolutionized.  Fighting  in 
trenches  instead  of  forts,  in  extended  instead  of 
compact  formations,  and  in  air  and  submarine  activi- 
ties, are  but  isolated  instances  of  modern  strategy. 
On  the  farm,  in  the  factory,  in  transportation  and  in 
every  other  field,  constant  changes  are  being  made. 

Churches  likewise  evidence  their  efficiency  or  in- 
efficiency by  their  attitude  towards  modern  methods 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  69 

and  strategy,  in  religious  education,  social  service, 
co-operation  and  federation,  finance,  evangelism,  or- 
ganization and  administration,  building  up  the  attend- 
ance and  membership,  developing  the  spiritual  life, 
emphasizing  social  life  as  an  aid  to  moral  and 
spiritual  activities,  publicity,  etc. 

We  have  the  same  Christ  as  Saviour  and  Lord,  but 
we  find  that  He  constantly  broke  precedents.  He 
preached  on  mountains  and  lakes,  and  at  weddings 
and  suppers,  and  did  many  things  in  startling  new 
ways  when  they  would  better  advance  His  plans  and 
mission.  His  churches  should  emulate  Him — instead 
of  pleasing  His  enemies  by  adhering  to  methods  now 
inadequate,  whether  from  sinful  inertia  or  because 
"  we  always  did  it  this  way." 

The  efficent  church  must  plan  for  thorough  organi- 
zation and  modern  administration.  The  best  brains 
of  the  modern  world  are  being  given  to  the  study 
of  political  and  industrial  organization  and  to  the 
improvement  of  administrative  methods.  Mormon- 
ism  is  a  monument  to  the  power  of  organization.  A 
thousand  organized  soldiers  can  defeat  a  mob  of  a 
hundred  thousand. 

We  are  often  told  that  churches  are  now  over- 
organized.  Rather,  they  are  trying  to  work  anti- 
quated and  outgrown  organizations.  Almost  every 
church  has  several  committees  or  boards  or  rules 
which  it  has  outgrown  in  their  present  form  and 
which  are  therefore  liable  to  cause  trouble.  Like  the 
vermiform  appendix,  should  be  cut  away  as  soon  as, 
or  before,  they  fester. 


70  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Organization  is  the  science  of  combining  many 
smaller  units  into  larger  and  more  efficient  units. 
The  thoroughly  organized  army,  from  the  first 
Macedonian  phalanx  to  the  present,  is  far  more 
effective,  so  is  it  the  more  difficult  to  manage. 
Simplicity  is  better  unless  there  be  competent  leader- 
ship to  wisely  adjust  the  organizations  and  operate 
them,  but  competent  leadership  must  be  developed 
and  more  efficient  organization  secured  so  as  to  ac- 
complish more  in  this  age. 

The  modern  church  must  develop  an  adequate 
spirit  and  program  of  helpful  co-operation.  A  regi- 
ment which  wasted  its  energies  and  ammunition  at- 
tacking allies,  however  it  might  doubt  their  wisdom, 
would  be  found  guilty  of  treason.  Every  worthy 
Christian  church  will  remember  that  "  He  that  is  not 
against  us  is  for  us."  Instead  of  interfering  in  any 
way  with  the  good  name  and  prosperity  of  other 
churches,  it  will  help  to  improve  them  and  will  seek 
an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  every  church 
of  Christ. 

The  efficient  modern  church  will  co-operate  with 
all  other  churches  of  its  denomination,  as  each  di- 
vision and  brigade  and  regiment  co-operates  with  all 
other  brigades  and  divisions.  It  will  co-operate  with 
churches  of  other  denominations  in  its  community  and 
state  and  nation  in  a  unified  program  of  advance,  as 
all  the  allies  in  a  well-waged  war  co-operate  against 
a  common  enemy.  God  will  withhold  permanent 
blessing  and  the  world  will  withhold  its  confidence 
from  the  church  which  selfishly  seeks  congregational 


TEN  ESSENTIALS  71 

or  denominational  glory  instead  of  co-operation.  The 
community  census  and  survey,  training  of  workers 
and  leaders,  development  of  efficient  program,  etc., 
are  often  possible  only  by  church  co-operation. 

The  Church  will  also  co-operate  with  other  existing 
institutions.  Recognizing  that  the  God  who  set  the 
solitary  in  families  also  set  them  in  political  com- 
munities and  states,  it  will  seek  to  serve  and  co- 
operate with  the  state  and  the  community  as  well  as 
to  gain  their  co-operation.  It  will  recognize  and 
seek  to  benefit  and  co-operate  with  schools,  com- 
merce, science  and  all  other  human  interests  and  in- 
stitutions so  far  as  they  are  divinely  ordained  for 
Kingdom  purposes. 

Napoleon  properly  named  esprit  de  corps  as  the 
last  and  by  all  odds  the  most  important  element  of 
military  efficiency.  Whatever  else  a  church  may  have, 
loyalty  is  the  soul  of  church  efficiency  as  well  as  of 
religion. 

Nations  develop  loyalty  by  having  a  flag  and  a  song. 
They  carefully  instruct  every  citizen  in  the  high 
ideals,  the  achievements  and  purposes,  the  rights 
and  responsibilities,  and  the  glorious  past  and  present 
of  his  country.  Each  church  should  so  magnify  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

Her  members  must  be  made  to  realize  the  infinite 
supremacy  of  religion  and  of  the  church  for  the 
world's  salvation,  individual  and  social.  They  must 
be  inspired  by  the  past  achievements  of  Christendom 
and  their  cost  in  sacrifice.  They  must  be  shown  the 
wonderful  victories  of  today,  the  possibilities  of  to- 


72  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

morrow,  and  the  strategic  importance  attaching  to 
the  life  of  service,  to  moral  and  social  righteousness, 
to  the  brother  spirit  and  sonlike  loyalty  of  every 
member.  They  must  be  convinced  that  neglect  is 
treason  to  God,  to  the  church,  to  fellow-members  and 
to  the  world.  Her  cause  must  be  shown  to  be  worth 
sacrificing  and  dying  for. 

Are  not  Christian  churches  shamed  by  the  contrast 
between  the  efficiency  standards  of  the  armies  of  mur- 
der and  destruction  and  the  unmilitary  inefficiency 
of  the  "mighty  army,  the  Church  of  God,"  whose 
aim  is  Life  and  Light  and  Blessing?  Should  not  the 
forces  of  the  Kingdom  striving  for  Righteousness 
and  Peace  and  Love  become  as  efficient  as  national 
forces  ?    Is  not  the  cause  as  worthy  ? 


y. 

CHURCH  ORGANIZATION— ITS  FUNDA- 
MENTAL PRINCIPLES 

I.  The  Importance  of  Efficient  Organization 

^^HURCH  organization  has  a  scriptural  basis. 
m  J  Christ  organized  even  the  Twelve  into  com- 
^■^^  mittees  of  two  with  a  treasurer.  He  ex- 
pressed the  purpose  of  building  His  Church,  implying 
that  it  must  have  departments  with  specific  purposes 
just  as  a  house  is  divided  into  kitchen,  library,  sleep- 
ing and  other  rooms.  He  calls  His  followers  dis- 
ciples and  Paul  calls  them  soldiers ;  and  both  disciples 
and  soldiers  can  attain  their  full  objectives  only  by 
organization  into  schools  and  armies.  The  Church  is 
described  as  a  body  through  which  Christ  as  the  head 
may  work,  and  we  would  know  that  a  head  could  do 
little  without  organs  even  if  Paul  had  not  spoken  of 
many  members  and  of  specific  functions. 

Organization  may  be  defined  as  the  process  of 
developing, — in  an  organism  such  as  a  church,  an 
army  or  a  human  body, — the  organs  necessary  for 
the  performance  of  essential  functions. 

The  purposes  of  church  organisation.  These  are: 
to  give  to  all  competent  specialists  and  leaders  those 
definite  responsibilities  where  their  powers  will  count 
73 


74  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

for  the  most ;  to  give  to  every  member  adequate  over- 
sight in  his  development,  and  co-operation  in  his 
Christian  services ;  to  make  possible  a  clearer  under- 
standing of  the  work  and  needs  of  the  church  so  as  to 
insure  more  intelligent  service  and  legislation;  to 
provide  for  the  co-ordination  of  the  work  and  the  co- 
operation of  all  the  workers  under  a  single  directing 
head ;  to  permit  of  larger  expansion  without  reducing 
efficiency;  and  to  allow  for  the  normal  development 
of  additional  necessary  functions. 

Are  church  organizations  becoming  too  complex? 
We  are  told  that  they  are  and  that  machinery  hinders 
the  work,  but  the  trouble  usually  is  that  the  funda- 
mental purposes  and  principles  of  church  organization 
have  been  ignored.  As  a  result,  organization  has 
increased  rather  than  reduced  confusion  as  it  should 
have  done.  Human  bodies  are  the  most  complex 
known  to  science,  yet  they  are  the  most  efficient. 
God  created  man  after  His  own  image  and  made 
human  bodies  complex  in  order  that  they  might  be 
more  satisfactory  agencies  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Churches,  also  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  must 
have  varied  functions  and  organs  if  Christ  is  to  work 
out  through  them  His  varied  purposes. 

Modern  organizations  must  be  more  complex  than 
primitive  ones.  Commerce,  agriculture,  governments 
and  all  other  human  institutions  have  increased  vastly 
in  complexity.  Leonard  B.  Smith  is  right  when  he 
says  that  the  early  Church  exercised  in  a  degree  all 
her  present-day  functions  for  (Homiletic  Review, 
1917,  p.  120),  "  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  in  the  work  of 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES         75 

Qirist, — during  and  immediately  following  His  min- 
istry,— missionary,  social,  evangelistic,  elementary, 
cradle  roll,  home,  increase  and  efficiency,  good  citi- 
zenship and  brotherhood  departments."  As  the 
church  faces,  both  without  and  within,  the  bewilder- 
ing modern  problems  outlined  in  a  former  chapter, 
it  is  clear  that  her  complexity  must  increase.  The 
church  of  a  century  ago  usually  had  but  50  or  100 
members,  so  that,  as  in  other  primitive  organisms, 
specialization  was  less  necessary. 

Many  a  successful  country  merchant  has  gone  into 
bankruptcy  because  he  tried  to  manage  a  city  steel 
plant  or  department  store  in  this  complex  age  with  an 
organization  which  sufficed  when  the  business  was 
small.  So  the  pastor  who  succeeded  with  a  small 
church  and  the  church  board  which  succeeded  forty 
years  ago  will  fall  utterly  short — God  only  knows 
how  sadly — of  the  possible  efficiency  in  managing  a 
large  church  today  unless  they  abandon  their  an- 
tiquated plans  of  organization  and  introduce  such  as 
experience  has  indicated  for  modern  conditions. 

To  express  a  dislike  for  management  and  a  prefer- 
ence for  preaching  is  no  excuse.  Neither  God  nor  the 
law  will  excuse  a  devout  father  who  is  too  busy  pray- 
ing and  teaching  the  Bible  to  provide  the  needed  sur- 
gical care  for  a  son.  The  spiritual  nurture  of  the 
church,  as  of  the  individual,  must  be  supplemented 
by  proper  attention  to  structural  development  and 
functional  efficiency. 

The  Bible  sets  forth  no  final  plan  of  church  organi- 
sation.   As  though  to  anticipate  a  defense  of  stereo- 


76  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

typed  church  organization  on  the  ground  that  we  have 
the  same  Bible  and  the  old-time  religion,  both  Jesus 
and  Paul  gave  few  definite  suggestions  as  to  organi- 
zation. Many  New  Testament  teachings  imply  its 
importance,  but  their  general  character  implies  that 
their  application  must  be  modified  to  suit  the  needs 
of  each  age  and  community  and  that  they  are  to  be 
supplemented  by  the  best  contemporary  advances  in 
institutional  organization. 

Many  churches  claim  that  their  methods  of  organi- 
zation are  inspired  and  that  their  denominational 
founders  were  infallible,  while  inconsistently  adding 
Sunday  Schools  and  other  organs  unmentioned  in  the 
Bible  and  undreamed  of  by  those  founders;  a  prac- 
tice of  adding  new  cloth  to  an  old  garment  which 
cannot  be  continued  indefinitely.  Such  church  plan- 
ners as  Calvin  and  Wesley  never  intended  their  work 
to  remain  unchanged  through  the  ages. 

The  foolish  customary  attitude  towards  traditional 
forms  of  organization  is  illustrated  by  a  pioneer's 
family  that  took  pride  in  living  in  the  sacred  octagonal 
log  cabin  of  its  forefathers,  though  having  added 
modern  rooms  by  building  an  attractive  lean-to  on 
each  of  its  eight  sides,  making  a  building  astounding 
both  in  appearance  and  in  convenience.  It  is  time  to 
consider  whether,  and  how,  archaic  church  organiza- 
tion shall  be  replaced,  lean-tos  and  all,  by  modern 
organizations  adapted  with  scientific  wisdom  to  mod- 
ern tasks  and  local  needs.  Such  a  new  plan  may  not 
allow  so  much  boasting  on  the  ground  of  antiquity, 
and  may  be  less  homelike  for  a  time,  but  organiza- 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  77 

tions,  like  rulers,  should  be  esteemed  for  present 
usefulness  rather  than  ancestry. 

Does  not  God,  causing  evolutionary  readjustments 
in  animal  organisms  during  periods  of  epochal  change 
in  their  environments,  imply  that  the  Church — its 
environment  having  so  changed  during  recent  years — 
should  rapidly  develop  new  organs  and  readjust- 
ments ?  Organs  which  do  not  adjust  themselves  to  a 
changed  environment  tend  to  atrophy. 

Denominational  founders  deserve  great  credit  for 
their  plans  which  were  then  modem  and  adapted  to 
the  times.  Only  recently  has  institutional  organiza- 
tion become  a  worthy  science.  Since  the  Church  is 
the  most  important  and  complex  of  all  God's  institu- 
tions, its  energies  should  not  be  wasted  on  half-baked 
theories  and  it  has  properly  awaited  experimentation 
by  other  agencies.  Such  experiments  have  been 
largely  and  successfully  made,  and  the  duties  and 
problems  of  the  Church  have  now  been  mastered  so 
that  petty  and  temporary  tinkering  can  give  place  to 
constructive  fundamental  reorganization. 

Changes  in  organisation  should  be  carefully  made. 
When  the  officials  of  the  New  York  Central  planned 
to  replace  their  New  York  terminal  (utterly  inade- 
quate though  built  but  thirty  years  before  with  the 
boast  that  it  would  suffice  for  a  century),  they  did  not 
act  rashly  or  denounce  the  former  architects.  They 
employed  experts  to  determine  future  needs  as  far  as 
possible,  architects  to  plan  the  buildings  and  engineers 
to  anticipate  difficulties;  and  the  utmost  of  skill  and 
foresight   were   exercised   to   operate   all  trains   as 


78  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

usual  while  removing  the  inadequate  structures  and 
foundations. 

If  church  plans  are  bungled,  the  penalties  must  be 
paid  as  in  other  important  structures.  The  utmost 
of  church  engineering  skill,  local  and  special,  should 
be  employed  to  insure  that  the  reconstruction  will  be 
adequate  for  the  future,  and  that  all  interests  will  be 
safeguarded  meantime,  so  that  the  time  and  energy- 
expended  and  the  temporary  disadvantages  accruing 
will  be  repaid  many  fold  in  years  to  come. 

Church  organisation  will  never  be  a  finished  science. 
It  must  advance  pari  passu  with  the  development  of 
executives.  Great  preachers  and  great  pastors  often 
lack  executive  skill  and  always  lack  the  time  for 
efficient  executive  activities.  A  staff  of  intelligent 
lay  heads  of  boards  and  departments  and  committees 
is  essential ;  must  be  developed.  An  executive  secre- 
tary should  be  employed  by  every  church  of  i,ooo 
members  (of  400  members  if  feasible),  or  several 
churches  of  one  or  different  denominations  can  em- 
ploy a  joint  executive,  business  manager  or  director 
of  activities. 

II.   The   Primary   Principles   and   Ideals  of 
Church  Organization 

Since  the  Bible  presents  the  human  body  as  a 
parable  of  the  Church,  it  must  be  the  text  in  any 
primary  consideration  of  the  principles  involved  in 
church  organizations. 

I.  Since  a  church,  like  a  physical  body,  is  an 
organism,  its  complexity  of  interrelations  is  beyond 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES         79 

full  description;  much  more  are  they  impossible  of 
presentation  by  a  chart.  Like  any  other  organism,  an 
efficient  church  can  only  be  adequately  illustrated  by 
a  three-dimensional  model  like  a  manikin. 

2.  Since  the  Church  is  a  spiritual  organism, 
spirituality  is  essential, — a  sort  of  fourth  dimension. 
While  we  cannot  chart  this  tangible  element,  we  as- 
sume it  to  underlie  all  that  we  shall  say. 

3.  Being  an  organism,  a  church  is  a  single  unit, 
not  a  mere  aggregation  of  organizations.  Inde- 
pendent and  unco-ordinated  elements  within  a  church 
are  as  undesirable  as  in  a  human  body  or  a  watch. 
When  the  heart  or  any  other  member  can  become 
independent  of  the  body  which  produced  it,  without 
injury  to  either,  it  will  be  time  to  approve  of  societies 
within  a  church  which  recognize  no  relations  or  duties 
to  it.  So-called  organizations  within  a  church  are  in 
reality  members.  A  true  organization  could  not  exist 
independently  within  an  organism.  The  church  fur- 
nishes building,  pastor,  janitor  and  other  spiritual  and 
general  essentials  for  all  its  societies. 

4.  A  church  is  more  than  the  sum  of  its  parts — 
departments,  boards  and  committees — as  a  living 
body  is  infinitely  more  than  the  sum  of  its  dissected 
parts,  and  America  is  vastly  more  than  a  congeries  of 
independent  states.  Parts  of  a  church,  as  of  a  watch, 
derive  their  chief  value  from  their  unity  in  a  vital  co- 
operative whole. 

5.  Organization  must  ever  be  a  means  rather  than 
an  end.  An  eye  or  a  hand  serves  its  own  interests 
best  when  it  forwards  the  welfare  of  the  whole  body, 


80  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

even  by  sacrificing  itself  when  necessary.  No  group 
should  be  permitted  to  organize  within  a  church  which 
does  not  serve  the  whole  church.  Of  course,  as  the 
heart  serves  the  whole  organism  unconsciously  when 
it  serves  itself,  so  a  subordinate  agency  may,  and 
usually  does,  render  valuable  service  to  the  church 
even  when  it  is  unintentional.  All  agencies  should 
be  tactfully  led  to  render  sympathetic  service  in  ut- 
most degree  to  the  church  and  all  its  agencies,  emulat- 
ing baseball  players,  for  even  a  heathen  will  make  a 
sacrifice  hit.  A  committee  or  society  which  is  out- 
grown or  undeveloped  is  likely  to  give  trouble  and 
should,  at  the  first  favourable  opportunity,  be  treated, 
like  a  festering  appendix  or  an  overgrown  finger- 
nail. 

6.  Functional  organization  is  primary.  The  stom- 
ach and  the  heart  develop  in  animals  before  either 
head  or  limbs.  The  church  functions  of  evangelism, 
service,education,  worship,  etc.,  were  exercised  before 
departmental  or  ofificial  organization  developed,  and 
must  always  be  the  primary  considerations. 

7.  Since  the  members  of  the  church  and  its  school 
need  specialized  direction  according  to  their  growth 
in  knowledge  and  powers,  they  must  be  organized 
into  departments  according  to  their  capacities  and 
attainments.  Graded  educational  work  is  a  proper 
recognition  of  this  truth  but  all  functions, — worship, 
social  service,  social  life,  etc., — require  a  degree  of 
similar  grading. 

8.  Organization  should  promote  efficient  discipline 
and  centralized  authority.    As  the  head  is  needed  to 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  81 

exercise  authority  over  all  members  and  functions  in  a 
body,  so  a  church  must  have  official  leadership  com- 
petent to  formulate  a  program  for,  and  to  co-ordinate 
the  church  and  all  its  agencies,  and  so  to  direct  and 
oversee  them  as  to  secure  the  largest  benefits  for  each 
and  for  the  church  as  a  whole.  Since  obedience  to 
the  will  of  the  official  head,  by  all  committees  and 
departments,  is  so  essential,  all  must  be  connected 
with  the  church  head  as  bodily  members  are  related 
to  their  head  through  the  motor  nerves. 

9.  Organization  should  promote  democracy.  The 
head  receives  sensory  messages  from  every  cell  and 
part  of  the  body.  In  a  democracy,  every  voter  helps 
to  formulate  the  policy  of  his  superior  government. 
One  object  in  all  church  organization  should  be  to 
facilitate  the  exercise  by  each  member  of  his  rights 
and  duties  by  intelligent  voting  and  by  the  expression 
of  his  convictions  and  desires  to  his  representatives  on 
every  board  and  department. 

10.  Completeness  is  essential  in  an  organism.  A 
man  may  accomplish  much  without  eyes  or  hands. 
He  may  even  exist  without  a  stomach.  So  a  church 
may  exist  and  render  a  measure  of  service  without 
some  of  the  departments  and  organs  which  God  in- 
tended but  the  perfection  and  power  of  its  existence 
will  be  limited  in  proportion  to  the  mutilation.  Of 
course  a  small  church,  like  other  primitive  organisms, 
may  assign  to  a  single  board  or  committee  the  func- 
tions which  in  a  more  complete  and  perfect  church 
would  be  performed  by  several  specialized  commit- 
tees, but  no  function  can  be  safely  ignored. 


82  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

11.  Since  every  organism  is  a  unity,  since  educa- 
tion is  a  unity,  and  since  all  departmental  activities 
are  in  essence  educational  and  inten;elated,  each  de- 
partment and  class  group  should  also  be  as  complete 
a  unit  as  possible.  One  agency  should  control  all 
activities  of  a  group,  as  one  nerve  controls  the  bones, 
muscles,  skin,  circulation  and  all  other  elements  of  the 
hand  or  of  the  leg.  Duplication  of  societies  and  of 
all  machinery  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and 
eventually  eliminated,  by  combining  and  enlarging 
the  functions  of  certain  agencies  so  that  all  the  reli- 
gious needs  of  each  individual  can  be  secured  by 
membership  in  only  one. 

12.  In  order  to  secure  this  perfected  church  or- 
ganism, the  most  feasible  plan  is  so  to  enlarge  the 
function  and  scope  of  the  Sunday  School  and  so  to 
perfect  its  organization  that  no  other  societies  or 
agencies  will  be  needed.  The  Sunday  School  will  thus 
be  turned  into  a  departmentalized  church,  co-ordinat- 
ing all  functions  having  to  do  with  individuals  or 
groups.  The  church  and  its  school  are  integrated  into 
one  harmonious  organism.  Each  department  and 
group  becomes  more  independent  of  the  others  than  in 
the  ordinary  Sunday  School,  and  more  directly  re- 
lated to  the  official  boards.  (See  next  chapters.) 
Each  member  of  the  church  would  belong  to  the 
appropriate  department.  Each  department  would 
have  a  complete  set  of  committees,  each  of  which 
would  be  federated  with  the  similar  committees  of 
all  other  departments.  For  example,  the  educational 
committee  of  the  men's  department  would  co-operate 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES         83 

with  the  educational  committees  of  all  other  depart- 
ments where  their  interests  touch  yet  would  be  free,  if 
desirable,  to  add  a  forum,  to  enlarge  the  number  of  its 
classes  or  to  vary  their  courses,  or  to  make  any  other 
changes  to  meet  the  varied  needs  and  wishes  of  all 
members  of  the  church  who  should  be  in  that  depart- 
ment and  enlist  them  in  its  work.  Teachers  would 
continue  members  of  their  proper  departments  even 
while  teaching  elsewhere.  Instead  of  allowing  inde- 
pendent societies,  each  department  would  foster  and 
control  its  own  Boy  Scout,  athletic,  social,  missionary 
and  other  activities  to  meet  all  the  needs  of  all  its 
members. 

13.  The  activities  of  all  departments  relating  to  any 
function  should  be  co-ordinated  and  unified.  If  mis- 
sionary or  spiritual  interest  be  at  low  ebb  in  the  men's 
department,  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  maintain  their 
normal  vitality  among  the  women.  If  an  adult  depart- 
ment fails  of  intelligent  efficiency  at  any  point,  the 
junior  departments  are  all  affected. 

As  the  whole  nervous  or  circulating  system  suffers 
if  one  nerve  or  blood-vessel  is  subnormal  in  any  part 
of  the  body,  so  each  departmental  committee  is  con- 
cerned that  all  similar  committees  in  other  depart- 
ments shall  be  fully  efficient.  Each  church  should 
therefore  have  a  committee  or  agency  responsible  for 
each  church  function,  to  insure  that  all  departmental 
committees  having  that  function  shall  be  properly 
efficient  and  to  standardize  and  co-ordinate  and  sup- 
plement their  activities  so  that  they  may  be  more 
helpful  to  each  other,  and  to  facilitate  an  infusion  of 


84  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

vitality  from  such  functional  committees  as  are 
efficient  to  those  of  other  departments  which  are  not. 
Each  adult  departmental  committee  should  be  repre- 
sented on  the  corresponding  church  committee. 

14.  The  child  has  practically  the  same  organs  as 
the  adult,  both  because  the  same  functions  are  essen- 
tial to  his  health  and  because  he  should  not  need  to 
master  the  meaning  of  an  entirely  new  set  of  organs 
at  maturity.  So  the  child  in  the  church  needs  the 
benefits  of,  and  should  be  accustomed  to,  practically 
all  the  committee  activities  with  which  he  will  be 
concerned  at  maturity.  The  lower  grade  departments 
being  less  completely  developed,  several  functions 
may  be  performed  by  one  committee,  or  the  teacher 
or  an  executive  committee  may  be  responsible  for  all 
activities,  but  all  proper  committee  interests  of  the 
adult  church  should  be  explained  and  exemplified  in 
some  degree  in  the  junior  departments. 

15.  Standardized  functional  terms  should  be 
adopted  in  all  departments.  A  child  learns  physiology 
easily  because  a  muscle  is  a  muscle  and  a  nerve  is  a 
nerve,  whether  in  the  head  or  leg  or  chest.  In  the 
average  church,  one  society  has  its  devotional  com- 
mittee, another  a  prayer  committee,  another  a 
spiritual  development  committee,  and  another  neg- 
lects the  prayer  function  entirely.  In  some  depart- 
ments, one  committee  does  what  several  committees 
do  in  another.  In  this  chaotic  condition,  the  child 
is  confused  by  what  could  be  made  very  simple  and 
is  not  prepared  for  intelligent  leadership.  Even 
adults  are  hopelessly  bewildered  and  consider  church 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES         85 

organization  to  be  unintelligible;  so  they  fail  to  take 
an  interest  in  what  they  do  not  comprehend,  or  if 
they  do  take  an  interest,  their  work  and  their  votes 
are  less  useful. 

i6.  As  the  welfare  of  a  body  is  affected  by  the 
health  of  each  cell,  so  a  church  is  affected  by  the 
spiritual  health  or  disease,  by  the  maturity  or  im- 
maturity, of  each  member.  As  each  tiny  cell  receives 
benefits  from,  and  gives  it  contribution  of  help  or 
hurt  to,  the  nerve  and  blood  systems  through  its 
own  nerve  and  assimilative  elements, — as  a  single  can- 
cerous or  tubercular  cell  is  likely  to  spread  contagion 
among  its  neighbours  and  destroy  the  member  or  the 
whole  body, — so  the  church,  and  each  department,  is 
vitally  concerned  that  each  member  shall  become 
spiritually  healthful  and  shall  function  normally  and 
fully.  One  selfish  man  or  woman  of  any  age  may 
affect  the  entire  department  and  spread  a  spiritual 
malady  or  contagion  which  may  cause  irreparable 
injury,  hence  functional  committees  must  be  univer- 
sally active. 

17.  A  local  church  is  itself  after  all  not  a  complete 
organism  but  is  a  cell  or  member  of,  dependent  upon 
and  depended  upon  by,  the  Christian  Church  Univer- 
sal which  is  a  single  organism.  Therefore  the  neigh- 
bouring churches  of  all  denominations  are  greatly 
advantaged  by  standardized  functional  and  depart- 
mental organizations  and  operations  so  that  the 
healthful  committees  and  departments  of  any  church 
can  more  easily  and  effectively  exert  their  beneficial 
influences  upon  all  less  efficient  corresponding  agen- 


86  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

cies  in  contiguous  churches.  In  turn,  its  weaker 
functions  may  receive  benefits  from  stronger  similar 
functions  in  other  churches.  The  publicity  commit- 
tees of  all  adjacent  churches  should  co-operate,  as 
should  all  corresponding  functional  agencies. 

i8.  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  organized 
efficiency.  Church  organization  is  not  a  mechanical 
process  to  be  perfected  once  and  forever  but  an 
organic  process  which  should  constantly  advance 
towards  perfection.  Like  an  army  or  a  business, 
church  organization  will  always  depend  upon  the  skill 
and  talents  of  personalities.  Constantly  do  condi- 
tions change,  department  members  advance  in  capa- 
bilities, tasks  attain  completion  and  leaders  remove. 
Only  constant  attention  can  effect  the  necessary  im- 
provements and  readjustments.  Especially  is  this  true 
in  our  age  of  reconstruction  when  no  two  workers 
have  had  the  same  training  or  outlook  in  the  chaotic 
past.  A  generation  or  two  must  make  patient  and  con- 
stant efforts  before  we  can  even  foresee  the  ideal. 
But  the  added  efficiency  now,  and  tomorrow,  will  well 
repay  the  efforts  expended. 

19.  The  increase  or  transformation  of  organs  in 
order  to  increase  usefulness  should  be  by  evolution 
rather  than  revolution.  In  the  biological  evolution  of 
lower  organisms,  God  increases  the  number  of  organs 
slowly,  except  at  critical  stages.  When  a  new  organ 
or  function  develops,  it  is  apt  to  overshadow  the 
others  for  a  time,  while  it  absorbs  their  due  support  ; 
just  as  a  Sunday  School,  young  people's  or  other 
society,  or  a  new  committee  for  social  service  or  other 


FUNDAMENTAL  PRINCIPLES  87 

worthy  purpose,  because  of  both  its  novelty  and  its 
real  importance  and  poor  general  management,  has 
too  often  diverted  the  energies  and  interest  which 
belonged  to  an  existing  missionary  or  spiritual  com- 
mittee or  to  the  church  itself.  Or,  a  new  agency, 
coming  into  being  amid  a  number  of  powerful  com- 
peting agencies  of  real  worth,  fails  from  lack  of  wise 
management  to  secure  its  proper  attention  and  is 
doomed  to  death  or  to  an  anaemic  life,  as  has  so  often 
happened  to  a  new  church  or  departmental  committee, 
or  even  to  a  men's  department. 

Therefore,  additions  of  or  changes  in  organs  and 
their  relations  should  be  made  gradually — unless 
there  is  critical  urgency  because  of  some  glaring  neg- 
lects or  rapid  changes  of  conditions,  or  unless  ade- 
quate results  are  impossible  save  by  drastic  and  com- 
plete change, — that  the  welfare  of  both  the  old  and 
the  new  may  be  carefully  safeguarded.  Further,  as 
surgical  operations  or  tree-grafting  should  take  place 
when  the  body  or  the  tree  has  high  vitality  and  when 
subsequent  conditions  will  be  favourable,  so  church 
surgery  or  grafting  should  be  decided  on  under  the 
most  favourable  conditions,  after  a  revival  or  definite 
campaign  for  increased  vision  and  enthusiasm  and 
consecration,  and  new  organs  should  be  promptly 
strengthened  by  exercise.     (See  Chapter  XVI.) 


VI 

CHURCH  EFFICIENCY  THROUGH  DEPART- 
MENTS  AND  SOCIETIES 

NO  other  phase  of  church  organization  presents 
such  a  chaos  of  ideals  and  methods.  Prac- 
tical ministers  everywhere  cry  for  deliverance 
from  the  harmfulness  of  inadequate  policies  concern- 
ing, and  within,  church  departments  and  what  should 
be  subsidiary  societies.  The  rapid  increase  thereof, 
and  sometimes  their  efficiency,  command  the  highest 
admiration.  They  have  been  invaluable  laboratories 
for  religious  service  and  methods.  Yet  most  of  them, 
like  Topsy,  have  "  just  growed  "  with  no  unifying 
or  governing  principles,  with  traditions  which  are  in- 
coherent and  inadequate  to  a  degree. 

The  churches  and  pastors  of  former  days  are 
largely  to  blame  for  the  overlapping,  overlooking, 
selfishness  and  strife,  and  for  the  inefficiency  and  the 
disloyalty  to  the  Church,  which  are  so  often  present 
in  a  measure  and  which  sometimes  wreck  churches. 
Instead  of  encouraging  these  movements  at  their 
birth,  helping  them  to  understand  their  work  and 
how  they  could  best  serve  their  members  and  the 
Kingdom;  too  often  were  Sunday  Schools  scoffed  at 
by  church  officers,  women's  organizations  denounced 
as  heresies,  and  young  people's  societies  treated  with 


DEPARTMENTS  AND  SOCIETIES       89 

contempt  or  indifference.  Unappreciated  by  short- 
sighted churchmen  who,  in  the  days  of  small  things, 
could  not  see  the  magnitude  whereunto  these  agencies 
would  grow,  starved  for  sympathy  and  support  and 
stinging  from  criticisms,  no  wonder  that  former 
leaders  of  these  subordinate  agencies  for  advancing 
the  Kingdom  developed  sometimes  a  semi-hostility  to 
the  officers,  or  at  best  a  determination  to  remain  inde- 
pendent, and  that  these  attitudes  became  fixed  tradi- 
tions. 

Since  church  leaders  awoke  in  a  measure  to  the 
vast  possibilities  for  extensive  and  intensive  service 
through  subsidiary  departments,  and  to  the  harm 
done  by  their  lack  of  co-ordination,  they  are  fre- 
quently asked  to  keep  hands  off.  Proud  of  their 
founders  and  their  policies  and  rejoicing  in  their  free- 
dom, women  and  young  people  alike  hesitate  to  sur- 
render control  of  what  cost  so  much  sacrifice.  Some- 
times they  lost  sight  of  their  duties  to  the  Church, 
both  as  societies  and  as  individuals,  talk  about  the 
Church  as  "  they,"  and  receive  free  rent  and  over- 
sight as  duties  by  the  Church  while  making  no  return 
"and  even  interfering  with  its  plans. 

But  a  new  day  of  harmony  and  efficient  co-opera- 
tion is  dawning.  The  societies  are  realizing  that  the 
Church  is  more  important,  and  a  unity,  and  that  they 
cannot  render  their  largest  services  to  Christ  if  they 
continue  in  an  unscriptural  and  unbusiness-like  inde- 
pendency. The  Church  is  awakening  to  the  duty  of 
properly  sympathizing  with  and  co-ordinating  her 
departments,  that  they  may  render  fuller  service  to 


90  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

the  Kingdom.  Finding  that  they  are  members  one  of 
another  and  that  their  usefulness  will  be  limited  until 
they  come  into  a  closer  vital  unity  as  the  colonies 
united  to  form  our  nation,  the  road  to  such  a  step  is 
opening. 

I.   Hurtful  Results  of  the  Present  System 

The  departmental  organization  of  the  average 
church  violates  almost  every  fundamental  principle 
discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Among  the  most 
concrete  evils  are: 

Educational  efficiency  is  sadly  reduced.  If  educa- 
tion is  one,  we  cannot  continue  to  assign  impressional 
duties  to  the  Sunday  School  and  expressional  educa- 
tion in  missions  and  social  service  to  independent 
agencies.  Inadequately  co-ordinated,  classroom  im- 
pressions are  sooner  forgotten  while  expressional 
gifts  and  service  are  inadequate. 

Pleasure  is  separated  from  discipline.  Lion-taming 
is  hopeless  unless  the  tamer  feeds  and  pets  as  well  as 
teaches  and  disciplines.  Superintendents  and  teach- 
ers can  control  and  teach  with  more  success  when 
athletic  and  social  benefits  are  given  by  the  school 
through  its  subsidiary  organizations;  when  the  Boy 
.  Scouts,  etc.,  are  started  and  controlled  from  within. 
^  Essential  courses  are  optional.  A  lad  of  ten  seldom 
knows  his  needs  and  none  would  defend  his  right  to 
quit  school,  or  to  drop  arithmetic  and  reading,  when 
he  chose.  Bible  study,  missions,  prayer,  etc.,  are  just 
as  essential  in  religion  as  arithmetic  and  reading  are 
in  the  intellectual  world,  and  a  church  is  pitifully 


DEPARTMENTS  AND  SOCIETIES       91 

foolish  which  assumes  that  old  or  new  members  who 
are  "  spiritual  six-year-olds "  should  choose  their 
courses,  electing  all  or  any  or  none  as  they  please. 
So  long  as  we  imply  that  men,  women  and  young 
people  do  not  need  to  join  or  concern  themselves  with 
the  missionary,  Bible  class,  social  service,  prayer  or 
other  groups  unless  they  want  to,  those  who  most 
need  their  benefits  will  not  want  to. 

Each  church  should  take  steps  to  reduce  rapidly 
its  present  percentages  of  gospel  illiteracy  and  sub- 
normal or  unbalanced  religious  development  by 
definitely  determining  what  its  members  need,  and 
officially  requiring  that  all  who  become  church  mem- 
bers shall  take  the  essential  courses  and  have  the 
essential  discipline,  instead  of  relying  upon  societies 
and  classes  to  attract  them.  If  the  work  done  by 
its  agencies  for  men,  women  and  young  people  should 
be  done,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  see  that  it  is 
done  for  all  the  church  members,  and  that  it  is 
properly  done.  When  the  ideals  of  the  church  were 
limited,  when  theological  sermons  were  two  hours 
long,  when  service  and  broad  education  were  not 
expected  of  its  members,  the  functions  now  per- 
formed by  societies  were  less  important.  Today 
they  are  vital  to  the  highest  welfare  of  the  church  and 
of  its  members  and  of  the  Kingdom,  and  must  cease 
to  be  inefficient  or  optional. 

Hurtful  competition  between  agencies  seriously 
interferes  with  their  efficiency  and  the  welfare  of  the 
church  at  every  point.  Many  a  "  Ladies'  Aider  "  has 
been  prejudiced  against  missions  because  of  rivalry 


92  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

with  the  missionary  society  as  to  numbers  and  pres- 
tige and  achievements.  Because  of  unfortunate 
clashes  in  policy  between  the  Sunday  School  and  the 
young  people's  society,  many  young  men  and  women 
have  given  up  one  or  the  other  and  their  religious 
experience  and  usefulness  for  life  have  been  sadly 
reduced.  When  two  agencies  come  into  conflict, 
leaders'  personalities  and  other  petty  things  tend  to 
obscure  the  fundamentals  of  religion,  while  Christ 
and  the  church  are  forgotten  or  belittled  in  the  strife 
for  existence.  Church  unity  must  begin  in  the  local 
church.  This  condition  can  be  remedied  fully  only 
by  official  church  action  defining  the  membership  and 
rights  and  duties  of  all  agencies. 

All  church  work  is  unstable.  So  long  as  a  perma- 
nent church  policy  is  postponed  and  each  agency  is 
free  to  develop  its  own  ideals  and  policies  and  com- 
mittees, each  new  chairman  or  officer  is  likely  to  make 
equilibrium-upsetting  changes,  discontinuing  needed 
activities  or  starting  new  ones  which  overlap  the  work 
of  other  agencies.  Church  work  apparently  pro- 
vided for  may  at  any  time  be  discontinued  without 
due  consideration,  while  existing  committees  find  their 
work  suddenly  interfered  with  by  others.  Work  for 
young  people  may  collapse  after  two  or  three  years  of 
success  because  it  was  built  independently  about  a 
personality  that  went  away  to  school  or  to  work. 
Unable  to  interpret  the  incoherent  conditions,  each 
new  pastor  finds  himself  compelled  to  add  new 
machinery,  and  lets  old  organizations  die  or  con- 
tinue a  useless  and  meddling  existence. 


DEPARTMENTS  AND  SOCIETIES       93 

Intelligent  and  efficient  democracy  is  impossible. 
Unless  on  the  official  board  which  exercises  close 
supervision  of  all  agencies,  no  member  of  a  church  of 
500  members  can  so  master  the  ins  and  outs  of  all 
its  organizations  as  to  vote  intelligently.  Few  mem- 
bers understand  work  of  any  but  their  own  societies. 
Even  the  majority  of  church  officers  fail  to  compre- 
hend the  greatness  of  the  church  or  the  way  to  make 
it  efficient.  Men  and  women  with  leadership  are 
therefore  overtasked.  Congregational  meetings  are 
bewildering  rather  than  enlightening,  and  successful 
business  men  whom  the  church  most  needs  become 
weary  of  what  they  cannot  understand  and  lose  in- 
terest. Society  importance  is  unduly  magnified  and 
the  church  belittled  because  it  is  not  understood. 
When  agencies  are  reduced  to  a  minimum  and 
standardized,  with  sufficient  flexibility  retained,  all 
their  members  will  be  able  to  comprehend,  and  so  will 
take  a  larger  interest  in,  the  work  of  the  whole  church. 

Church  management  becomes  largely  the  task  of 
the  minister  to  the  detriment  of  the  management  as 
well  as  of  his  other  duties.  No  mere  officer  is  fitted 
to  supervise  and  co-ordinate  the  work  of  the  various 
agencies  in  the  ordinary  church.  To  master  the  in- 
tricacies of  each  society,  and  of  all  the  societies,  to 
bring  any  adequate  degree  of  church  efficiency  and 
unity  out  of  chaos,  requires  a  vast  deal  of  time  and 
constant  diplomacy  and  conference  on  the  part  of  the 
pastor.  Burdened  with  too  many  details,  his  sermon 
and  pastoral  work  are  neglected  and  the  whole  church 
suffers.     Were  a  plan  of  organization  adopted  as 


94  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

definite  as  that  of  the  human  body,  the  church  ma- 
chinery would  run  with  less  pastoral  oiling  and  over- 
sight while  increasing  the  interest  of  those  thus  given 
places  of  leadership  for  which  they  were  fitted. 

The  relations  of  men's  and  boys'  organisations  to 
one  another  and  to  those  of  the  opposite  sex  lack  wise 
formulation.  The  sexes  are  alike  yet  different.  The 
normal  boy  surpasses  his  sister  of  the  same  age  in 
athletic  development  and  daring,  so  that  he  acquires  a 
sort  of  contempt  for  girls.  On  the  other  hand,  espe- 
cially after  ten  or  twelve,  he  develops  more  slowly 
mentally  and  is  less  competent  and  more  hesitant  to 
speak  or  sing  or  lead  in  prayer  in  public.  The  feel- 
ing of  physical  superiority  makes  him  the  more  sensi- 
tive to  his  inferiority  in  public  and  Sunday-school 
classes,  young  people's  and  other  joint  meetings,  so 
that  he  is  likely  to  manifest  his  unconscious  reactions 
by  staying  away,  by  moody  silence  or  by  boisterous- 
ness.  This  is  one  reason  many  boys  drop  out  of 
school  when  their  sisters  of  the  same  age  surpass 
them.  More  mature  men,  except  of  the  college  and 
professional  types,  become  self-conscious  and  hesitant 
to  teach  or  speak  in  the  presence  of  a  group  of  mod- 
ern women,  since  women  are  becoming  more  fully 
developed  along  these  lines. 

On  the  other  hand,  girls,  at  a  certain  age,  usually 
become  more  self-conscious  in  the  presence  of  boys, 
less  amenable  to  discipline  and  likely  to  reflect  the 
boys'  assumed  indifference  to  religion.  Many  women 
who  will  speak  or  answer  questions  in  a  woman's 
meeting  will  refuse  when  men  are  present. 


DEPARTMENTS  AND  SOCIETIES       95 

Both  sexes  have  their  ambitions  stimulated  by  the 
presence  of  wise  older  members  of  the  same  sex,  while 
the  presence  of  younger  ones  means  added  sobriety 
and  dignity  for  the  older  ones.  Both  boys  and  girls 
should  be  brought  from  time  to  time  into  fuller  rela- 
tions with  the  adults  of  their  groups. 

The  separation  of  the  sexes  into  separate  depart- 
mental rooms  is  therefore  increasing,  especially  for 
the  secondary  departments,  with  large  benefit  to  both 
sexes.  Boys  who  have  been  incorrigible,  or  had  quit 
school,  have  become  good  pupils  in  a  separate  boys* 
room  with  appropriate  music,  hero  stories,  male 
supervision  and  athletic  interests  and  announcements. 
While  some  women  make  excellent  teachers  for  boys, 
the  men's  department  must  be  brought  into  close 
touch  with  them  and  must  assume  special  respon- 
sibility for  them  through  a  Special  Committee. 

XL   Essential  Steps  to  Departmental  Efficiency 

To  remedy  the  conditions  discussed  and  give  the 
departments  the  larger  significance  they  deserve,  we 
recommend : 

Official  authorisation  of-  all  departments.  The  offi- 
cial board,  including  representatives  from  all  existing 
agencies,  should  determine  the  number  of  depart- 
ments, delimit  their  duties  to  their  members  and  to 
other  agencies,  specify  the  age  and  other  require- 
ments as  to  membership,  work  out  an  adequate  com- 
mittee plan  and  provide  for  representation  on  the 
official  board  in  some  of  the  ways  discussed  elsewhere. 

Recognition  of  three  major  departments:  adult 


96  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

men,  adult  women  and  young  people  (besides  the 
elementary  and  secondary  departments),  each  having 
the  broadest  possible  scope.  The  Church  School  will 
be,  and  the  other  departments  may  be,  divided  into 
minor  departments  (see  chart  on  page  138).  Each 
major  department  will  decide  or  permit  its  own  sub- 
division, in  conference  with  the  official  board.  The 
school  will  be  largely  under  the  supervision  of  the 
representatives  of  the  adult  departments  with  the 
pastor  and  the  educational  and  service  directors.  All 
subdivisions  of  a  department  with  their  committees 
will  be  co-ordinated  in  that  department,  and  all  de- 
partments will  be  co-ordinated  by  the  official  board. 

Assignment  of  members.  The  church  will  notify 
all  members,  new  and  old,  that  they  belong  to  their 
respective  departments,  which  will  exercise  the  dis- 
ciplinary, educational  and  other  functions  of  the 
church,  in  place  and  under  the  authority  of  the  official 
board,  and  that  they  are  expected  to  participate  in  the 
departmental  work  and  government  as  part  of  their 
church  duty. 

Official  oversight  of  all  departments.  This  implies 
co-ordination  of  and  co-operation  with  their  general 
plans,  such  standardization  of  committees  as  will 
admit  of  their  co-ordination,  adequate  church  policies 
which  shall  give  larger  meaning  to  departmental 
work,  regular  reports  to  the  official  board  from  each 
department,  etc. 

Sex  responsibility  for  the  Sunday-school  ages.  All 
boys  and  girls  of  nine  and  upwards  will  be  dignified 
and  stimulated  by  recognition  by  their  adult  sex 


DEPARTMENTS  AND  SOCIETIES       97 

departments  as  minor  members,  will  receive  a  large 
measure  of  counsel  and  help  therefrom,  will  look 
forward  to  such  age  as  may  be  locally  desirable  when 
they  shall  automatically  become  voting  members  by 
faithful  study  and  promotions. 

III.   Objections  Considered 

Will  not  such  an  organization  be  much  more  com- 
plex? It  is  much  more  simple  when  once  put  effi- 
ciently into  operation. 

Will  not  the  societies  and  departments  resent  such 
interference  ?  Not  when  the  ideal  of  a  complete  mod- 
ern working  church  is  fully  explained  to  them  and 
they  are  given  departmental  representation  on  the 
official  board.  Without  representation,  they  can  speak 
of  interference  as  the  colonists  did  of  taxation,  but 
they  want  representation  and  will  readily  see  that 
representation  without  subordination  would  be  impos- 
,sible.  It  is  the  same  idea  as  when  the  states  gave 
up  part  of  their  sovereignty  to  secure  a  union  rather 
than  a  federation,  because  they  gained  more  than  they 
surrendered. 

Will  this  plan  be  efficient?  What  could  be  less 
efficient  than  the  present  system  of  letting  all  the 
agencies  go  their  own  unco-ordinated,  haphazard 
ways ;  sometimes  doing  much,  sometimes  doing  little ; 
with  very  vague  ideas  of  their  future  goals  or  rela- 
tions? Matters  of  readjustment  may  take  some  time 
but  they  must  always  be  solved  in  a  growing  mind  or 
government  or  church. 

Should  not  the  church  perform  all  duties  to  its 


98  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

members?  When  the  departments  become  official 
parts  of  the  church,  what  the  departments  do  is  done 
by  the  church.  No  central  government  can  do  all 
that  should  be  done  for  its  people,  but  must  work 
through  subordinate  agencies  or  states.  The  depart- 
ments should  be  permitted  to  do  only  those  things  that 
they  can  do  better  than,  and  will  do  in  harmony  with, 
the  official  board. 

What  preparation  should  be  made  for  such  changes 
of  policy?  Begin  by  developing  a  cabinet  or  council 
vj  I  as  suggested  elsewhere  in  chapter  XII.  Bring  officers, 
;  department  leaders  and  church  committee  chairmen 
together  regularly.  Have  them  discuss  the  church, 
its  ideals,  its  future  policies,  its  failures,  its  lack  of 
common  purpose  and  plan.  Appoint  a  committee  to 
consider  the  whole  matter  and  present  a  plan  for 
departmental  and  committee  and  board  reconstruc- 
tion. Unify  and  enlarge  the  responsibilities  of  one 
sex  or  group  as  an  experiment. 


VII 

CHURCH  COMMITTEE  ORGANIZATION 
AND  EFFICIENCY 

""TX  TE  are  committeed  to  death,"  is  one  of 
V/V/  many  familiar  expressions  of  impatience 
"  "  and  disgust  with  the  average  church  and 
departmental  committee.  The  indictments  urged  are 
that  committees  fail  to  take  themselves  seriously,  do 
not  know  what  to  do,  do  not  meet,  do  not  take  an 
interest  in  their  work,  do  not  plan  ahead,  do  not  report, 
and  do  nothing.  Chairmen  are  accused  of  failing  to 
consult  their  committees,  secretaries  of  "  failing  to 
secretary,"  and  members  of  absolute  indifference. 

Yet  committees  should  be  great  forces  in  every 
religious  organism.  Their  duties  are  as  essential  as 
physical  functions.  While  a  minister,  or  one  board  or 
individual,  may  assume  most  of  the  functional  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  average  church  with  some  suc- 
cess, efficiency  is  reduced  by  the  absence  of  efficient 
committees,  in  direct  ratio  to  the  size  of  the  church 
and  to  the  complexity  of  its  problems. 

The  blame  for  present  conditions  is  easily  placed. 
The  hit  or  miss  method  of  selecting  them  results  in 
more  misses  than  hits.  Usually  they  are  perfunc- 
tory, named  because  of  disciplinary  requirements  or 
of  similar  committees  in  Boston  or  Texas,  given  very 
99 


100  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

vague  understanding  of  what  they  are  to  do  or  what 
sister  committees  are  doing,  with  little  conception  of 
the  achievements  of  their  predecessors  or  the  expecta- 
tions of  their  successors.  Lacking  definite  instruc- 
tion, leadership  and  assistance  they  are  trying  to  make 
bricks  without  straw. 

Tfi€  official  board  which  realizes  the  importance  of 
committees  usually  lacks  the  specialists  essential  to 
adequate  action,  while  its  time  is  absorbed  with  other 
illy-digested  duties.  As  a  result,  committee  tasks  are 
as  imperfectly  performed  as  they  are  narrowly  con- 
strued. For  example,  the  committee  on  education 
usually  gives  no  thought  to  educational  activities 
or  interests  outside  the  Sunday  School,  where  it 
merely  ascertains  and  reports  the  facts  without 
offering  constructive  suggestions  as  to  educational 
methods,  as  to  reaching  adult  men  and  women,  or  as 
to  meeting  the  social  and  physical  needs  of  the  young 
people.  The  church  finance  committee,  unable  to 
understand  the  muddled  ideals  and  methods  of  the 
various  societies,  either  pays  no  attention  thereto  or 
merely  creates  a  confusion  worse  confounded. 
Church  committees  on  social  service,  spiritual  de- 
velopment, fellowship,  etc.,  if  they  exist,  usually  give 
no  aid  to  the  corresponding  departmental  committees, 
have  no  plan  of  co-operation  with  one  another,  and 
attempt  but  a  small  segment  of  their  proper  work. 

The  ordinary  official  indifference  to  committee  effi- 
ciency in  departments  results  in  chaos.  Following 
their  own  sweet  wills — or  sweet  whims — as  to  the 
number  and  functions  and  methods  of  their  com- 


COMMITTEE  ORGANIZATION        101 

mittees,  the  standardization  essential  to  genuine 
efficiency  is  lacking  and  co-operation  is  as  hopeless  as 
when  left  to  chance  in  other  matters. 

Official  board  committees  made  up  exclusively  from 
their  members  are  akin  to  our  amateur  congressional 
committees, — since  the  specialists  essential  to  wise 
church  legislation  are  frequently  unpopular  or  un- 
willing candidates  as  compared  with  those  who  have 
wealth,  popularity  and  a  goodness  which  is  not  good 
for  much, — and  must  be  supplemented  by  men, 
women  and  young  people  who  can  render  valuable 
service,  either  as  advisory  or  full  members. 

I.  Remedial  Steps 

In  accord  with  the  ideals  and  principles  set  forth 
in  preceding  chapters,  we  suggest  the  following 
steps  towards  making  inefUcient  church  committees 
eificient: 

1.  The  official  board  should  appoint  a  church  com- 
mittee with  respect  to  each  important  function,  hav- 
ing definite  responsibilities  and  instructions  and 
having  representatives  from  all  corresponding  depart- 
mental committees,  to  formulate  a  policy  in  that  field 
for  the  entire  church,  to  co-ordinate  and  help  and 
supplement  all  the  departmental  committees,  and  to 
secure  their  organization  where  they  are  lacking. 

2.  The  various  committees  of  the  church, — likewise 
of  each  department, — should  be  co-ordinated  and  their 
mutual  helpfulness  increased  by  conferences  of  their 
chairmen  in  a  functional  staff,  or  in  a  cabinet,  includ- 
ing all  the  officers. 


102  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

3.  The  committees  should  be  taken  more  seriously. 
They  should  receive  an  annual  sermon  outlining  the 
whole  work  of  the  church,  defining  the  responsibilities 
of  each  committee,  and  calling  upon  the  congre- 
gation to  support  their  work.  Close  the  service  by 
reading  the  lists  of  committee  members  and  calling 
them  to  stand  at  the  altar  to  receive  a  general  charge 
as  to  faithfulness,  to  be  recognized  by  the  congrega- 
tion, and  to  be  consecrated  with  prayer.  A  similar 
service  could  be  held  by  each  department  or  the 
departmental  committees  could  be  consecrated  with 
the  church  committees. 

4.  Church  committee  chairmen  should  be  appointed 
with  great  care  as  the  President  chooses  his  cabinet 
members.  The  departmental  committee  chairmen 
should  be  appointed  by  their  presidents  only  after 
conference  with  the  pastor  and  with  the  chairmen  of 
the  church  committees  of  which  they  will  become  ex- 
officio  members.  A  chairman  should  have  enthusiasm 
for  his  committee  work,  a  knowledge  of  what  to  do 
or  books  to  tell  him,  executive  capacity,  and  the 
ability  to  gain  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  his 
committee  members  whom  he  will  usually  select  in 
conference  with  his  departmental  president  and 
cabinet. 

5.  The  chairmen,  as  well  as  the  secretaries  and 
vice-chairmen,  should  be  taught  how  to  plan  and  do 
their  work,  to  develop  their  dockets,  to  use  sub- 
committees, to  secure  action  as  well  as  debate,  to  keep 
proper  records,  and  to  make  reports  to  their  su- 
periors.    Meetings  of  the  departmental  and  church 


COMMITTEE  ORGANIZATION       103 

cabinets  and  of  the  church  committees  should  be  par- 
liamentary schools  for  their  members. 

6.  Each  committee  should  meet  frequently,  as 
needed.  For  example,  the  church  finance  committee 
should  usually  meet  monthly,  with  weekly  meetings 
for  a  month  before  the  annual  canvass,  and  at  such 
other  times  as  the  interests  of  departments  or  their 
own  work  demands. 

7.  Secure  regular  committee  meetings  and  stimu- 
late emulation  by  specifying  the  times  and  places 
of  meeting  if  possible.  The  plan  for  a  "  Church 
Business  Night,"  especially  in  connection  with  a 
monthly  supper  conference,  (see  Chapter  XII)  will 
greatly  stimulate  and  encourage  the  committees  and 
prevent  forgetting  the  date,  while  allowing  needed 
conferences  of  related  departmental  committees  or 
their  chairmen  with  each  other  or  with  the  corre- 
sponding church  committee.  In  any  case,  all  social 
committees  should  meet  the  same  night  for  mutual 
conference  and  help,  as  should  other  kindred  groups 
of  committees. 

8.  No  committee  should  be  appointed  without 
definite  instruction  as  to  its  task  and  its  relations  to 
other  interests,  preferably  in  writing.  The  church 
library  should  contain  books  to  help  each  committee 
understand  and  do  its  work.    (See  Bibliography.) 

9.  Regular  written  reports  should  be  required 
monthly  from  each  important  committee  and  from 
unimportant  committees  at  least  quarterly;  four 
copies  being  made:  (i)  for  its  own  file,  (2)  for  the 
pastor,  (3  and  4)  for  the  cabinet  of  its  department, 


104  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and   for  the  corresponding  church  committee,   for 
filing  after  reading  and  consideration. 

10.  To  insure  neat  and  compact  reports,  the 
church  should  furnish  all  committees  with  printed  or 
multigraphed  blanks,  or  at  least  with  standard  forms. 
A  typewriter  and  carbon  sheets  should  be  owned  by 
the  church  so  that  the  four  copies  can  be  made  at  once 
by  the  church  secretary,  by  volunteer  typist  or  by 
committee  members. 

11.  Departmental  committee  interests  can  be  fur- 
ther emphasized  and  good  work  recognized  by  hav- 
ing selections  from  their  reports  read  at  the  church 
cabinet  meetings  or  at  occasional  "  Monthly  Church 
Business  and  Prayer  "  meetings. 

12.  The  pastor  or  his  assistant  should  be  ex- 
officio  a  member  of  all  church  and  departmental  com- 
mittees and  cabinets,  attending  as  often  as  may  be 
feasible. 

13.  Most  church  committees  should  include  one  or 
two  members  at  large,  as  well  as  the  chairman  and 
possibly  the  secretaries  of  the  corresponding  depart- 
mental committees.  A  chairman  may  or  may  not  be 
chairman  of  a  departmental  committee  and  may  often 
be  a  capable  woman. 

14.  Committees  should  not  be  too  large.  Spurgeon 
is  quoted  as  saying,  "  The  best  committee  has  three 
members  with  one  sick  and  one  absent."  When  a 
committee  numbers  over  five,  or  seven,  a  small  execu- 
tive committee  should  formulate  and  execute  policies, 
the  full  committee  existing  for  advisory,  educational 
and  confirmatory  purposes. 


COMMITTEE  ORGANIZATION        105 

15.  Promote  stability  by  holding  over  the  chairmen 
or  secretary  of  each  committee  from  year  to  year. 

16.  The  more  important  committees,  such  as  re- 
ligious education,  are  frequently  called  commis- 
sions,— in  some  large  churches  all  functional  commit- 
tees are  commissions — and  are  given  larger  freedom, 
reporting  to  the  official  board  as  to  their  progress 
chiefly  for  information. 

17.  Committees  exist  not  merely  to  do  work,  but 
to  get  work  done  by  calling  to  their  aid  as  -many 
helpers  as  necessary  for  a  social  survey,  finance  con- 
vass,  etc.  Every  church  member  is  really  a  member 
of,  and  subject  to  call  by,  all  the  official  committees. 

18.  Avoid  so  overloading  certain  members  with 
responsibilities  that  none  of  their  work  will  be 
efficiently  done. 

19.  Avoid  starting  too  many  new  committees  or 
activities  at  one  time.  (See  chapter.  Introducing 
New  Methods.) 

II.   What  Church  Committees? 

Wisdom  should  be  exercised  by  the  church  effi- 
ciency commission,  or  whatever  agency  determines 
the  number  and  duties  of  committees.  While  there  is 
agreement  as  to  the  essential  church  functions,  we 
find  three  divergent  theories  and  practices  as  to  the 
number  of  essential  committees. 

First,  some  churches  have  a  great  many  different 
committees ;  one  church  having  over  thirty,  each  with 
a  large  measure  of  independence,  reporting  directly 
to  the  official  board.    An  advantage  is  that  more  men 


106  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  women  are  given  stimulating  responsibilities  as 
chairmen.  But  it  is  difficult  to  co-ordinate  so  many 
independent  agencies,  while  the  small  or  weak  church 
will  not  have  nearly  enough  competent  chairmen  or 
secretaries. 

Second,  we  find  many  churches,  even  of  large  size, 
have  a  very  few  general  committees  but  each  has  a 
most  competent  head  and  several  subcommittees.  One 
small  church  has  but  two  general  committees:  Edu- 
cational (including  all  work  for  members  and  chil- 
dren) and  Extension  (including  evangelism,  pub- 
licity, social  service,  missions,  etc.).  Fred  Fisher,  in 
*'  The  Way  to  Win,"  recommends  six  major  com- 
mittees: Evangelism,  Training,  Community  Service, 
Missions,  Publicity  and  Finance. 

The  Efficiency  Commission  of  the  Reformed 
Church  suggests  seven  specific  functional  committees : 
worship,  religious  and  Christian  education,  evan- 
gelism, missions  and  stewardship,  pastoral  oversight, 
social  fellowship  and  social  service;  and  adds  five 
practical  committees:  Finance,  Property,  Ushering, 
Auxiliary  Organizations  and  Publicity. 

The  Finance  committee  of  one  church  has  six  sub- 
committees on :  preparing  church  budget,  finances  of 
subsidiary  organizations,  education  as  to  stewardship 
and  methods  (by  literature  and  letters  and  personal 
work),  annual  canvass,  bookkeeping  and  accounting, 
and  auditing;  but  the  ordinary  church  will  not  need 
so  many. 

In  another  church  the  committee  on  Evangelism 
has  these  subcommittees:  Sunday-school  evangelism. 


COMMITTEE  ORGANIZATION        107 

to  co-operate  with  the.  committee  on  education ;  pub- 
licity; invitation,  to  find  new  neighbours  and  invite 
them  to  church ;  hospitality,  to  usher,  to  discover  the 
new  attendants,  and  to  introduce  and  visit  them ;  and 
personal  work. 

The  third  committee  plan  combines  the  two  al- 
ready described.  Certain  fundamental  committees  are 
named,  as  Educational,  Missionary,  etc.,  and  second- 
ary committees  are  made  up  largely  by  taking  co- 
ordinating representatives  from  them.  For  example, 
one  Finance  and  Stewardship  committee  is  constituted 
largely  from  the  Educational  and  Missionary  com- 
mittees, and  the  Board  of  Deacons ;  the  social  fellow- 
ship committee  has  large  representation  from  the 
educational  and  evangelistic  committees,  etc. 

By  this  plan  first  things  are  put  first  and  secondary 
matters  are  handled  by  practically  federating  the 
agencies  most  concerned.  One  young  people's  com- 
mittee is  made  up  of  one  man  and  one  woman  each 
from  the  educational,  social  service,  missionary,  evan- 
gelistic and  athletic  committees  of  the  Men's  and 
Women's  departments,  together  with  a  chairman  who 
is  named  by  the  church  board,  and  two  young  people, 
but  the  executive  committee  includes  only  the  last 
three,  and  co-operates  with  the  school  and  depart- 
mental superintendents. 

We  may  say  that  the  number  and  scope  of  com- 
mittees will  depend  on  the  size  of  the  church,  on  its 
problems  and  on  the  number  of  available  leaders. 
One  man  or  woman  may  serve  as  chairman  or  secre- 
tary of  two  or  three  committees.    Most  church  com- 


108  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

mittees  have  men  for  chairmen  and  women  for  sec- 
retaries, since  earnest  women  are  usually  better  in 
following  up  details,  securing  quorums,  etc. 

Every  church  or  official  board  could  have  a  special 
"  Efficiency  Commission  "  to  consider  and  define  the 
duties  and  work  of  the  various  committees,  to  prevent 
any  overlooking  or  overlapping,  etc. 

In  the  small  church,  a  single  individual,  with  the 
co-operation  of  the  pastor,  will  often  constitute  a 
committee. 


VIII 

CHURCH  EFFICIENCY  THROUGH  DISTRICT 
ORGANIZATION 

A  NOTHER  essential  element  of  modern  church 

l\     management  is  organization  by  districts.    An 

-*-  -^  efficient  district  plan  makes  it  possible  to  get 

far  more  work  done,  especially  for  adults,  and  to  get 

it  done  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  right  way. 

If  the  district  system  has  broken  down  and  been 
condemned  at  times,  it  is  because  of  imperfect  organi- 
zation and  plans.  Most  notable  is  its  success  in 
churches  of  every  size  and  type  where  the  principles 
which  we  shall  elaborate  are  observed, 

I.   The  Importance  of  District  Committees 

First,  the  pastor  needs  such  committees  to  relieve 
him  of  much  of  the  detail  work  and  routine  visiting 
which  interfere  with  his  other  duties  and  to  give 
larger  effect  to  his  work.  They  should  immediately 
visit  all  new  members  or  attendants  from  their  dis- 
tricts whose  names  may  be  furnished  by  the  pastor, 
ushers  or  otherwise,  securing  information  which  will 
enable  the  minister  to  accomplish  more  by  his  visits, 
and  they  should  follow  his  visits  by  their  own.  They 
will  serve  him  as  telephone  squads,  will  keep  track  of 
changes  in  address,  will  report  sickness  and  needed 
calls  and  will  furnish  the  volunteer  evidence  of  sin- 
109 


110  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

cerity  which  some  believe  is  lacking  in  visits  by  paid 
ministers. 

Second,  they  can  help  increase  the  family  spirit 
with  its  unity  and  loyalty  which  is  so  often  conspicu- 
ous by  its  absence  in  modem  churches,  by  arranging 
for  visitations  and  district  socials  and  prayer  meet- 
ings, etc.  In  a  large  church  it  is  impossible  for  any 
family  to  have  that  intimate  acquaintance  with  all 
other  members  and  families  which  is  so  valuable  a 
feature  of  the  small  church  and  for  the  lack  of  which 
many  members  will  lose  interest  and  be  lost  to  the 
church.  The  division  of  the  church  into  districts  or 
parishes  about  the  size  of  the  small  church,  and  main- 
taining its  social  and  helpful  features,  makes  it  pos- 
sible for  every  member  in  each  to  know  every  other 
member  so  that  all  are  welded  into  a  brotherhood 
which  makes  backsliding  members  an  impossibility. 

Third,  church  members  need  such  oversight  as  it 
is  impossible  fully  to  give  except  by  this  plan.  Wes- 
ley's primitive  method  of  setting  a  class  leader  over 
every  ten  or  twelve  members  to  see  them  each  week 
and  inquire  regularly  after  their  spiritual  and  moral 
interests,  to  receive  their  contributions  and  to  gather 
them  for  prayer  and  testimony,  was  admirably 
adapted  to  that  age  and  was  a  primary  element  in  the 
amazing  solidarity  and  growth  of  Methodism.  Yet 
it  is  not  adapted  to  modern  conditions.  His  followers 
were  for  the  most  part  poor  and  illiterate,  and  were 
without  industrial  or  political  rights.  They  were  ac- 
customed to  work  always  under  overseers  and  to 
"  reverence  their  betters."    They  accepted  the  class 


DISTRICT  ORGANIZATION  till 

leader  and  reverenced  him  as  a  sort  of  elemental 
bishop. 

But  conditions  have  changed,  except  in  heathen 
lands  where  the  plan  is  most  urgent.  Most  American 
church  members  are  accustomed  to  choose  their  politi- 
cal and  social  leaders  instead  of  having  them  ap- 
pointed from  above.  Ardent  partisans  of  intelligent 
democracy,  they  expect  a  voice  in  all  affairs.  They 
will  not  respond  to  an  individual  overseer  but  will 
respect  the  less  personal  and  truly  American  system 
of  committee  oversight  when  committees  are  tactful 
and  are  appointed  by  elected  representatives.  Be- 
sides, departments  now  share  in  the  responsibility  and 
no  single  person  can  properly  oversee  the  interests 
of  all  present-day  ages  and  types  of  church  members. 

Hence  arises  the  success  of  the  district  committee 
plan,  each  department  having  a  committee  in  each  dis- 
trict to  oversee  its  members,  all  departmental  districts 
having  the  same  boundaries  and  their  workers  being 
co-ordinated  in  church  district  committees. 

Fourth,  the  efficiency  of  every  church  committee 
can  be  much  increased  by  district  committees  co- 
operating. As  the  ganglionic  centers  serve  the  body, 
so  the  church  district  committee  ganglia  perform 
many  of  the  duties  which  would  otherwise  need  to  go 
to  headquarters,  congesting  the  pastor's  study  or  the 
church  office. 

What  District  Committees  Are  Doing 

We  cannot  do  better  than  relate  some  testimonies. 
Says  one  pastor :  "  When  new  members  are  received 


112  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

by  our  church,  or  when  new  attendants  or  families 
who  might  be  reached  are  discovered,  we  send  cards 
with  their  addresses  and  all  possible  information  to 
the  secretaries  of  the  committees  in  their  respective 
districts.  It  is  their  duty  to  have  a  call  made  within 
a  week,  to  welcome  them  to  the  community  and  to 
the  church  and  to  their  proper  classes  and  depart- 
ments. Callers  have  duplicates  of  the  information 
cards  sent  the  secretaries  on  which  they  add  all  the 
additional  notes  they  can.  After  these  cards  return 
to  the  district  secretary,  the  information  is  given 
to  the  pastor  and  a  separate  card  is  made  out  for  each 
adult  member  of  the  household  with  information. 
Within  the  next  four  weeks,  at  least  four  visits  are 
to  be  made  by  women  of  the  proper  age  upon  each 
woman,  and  at  least  two  visits  to  each  man  by  men  of 
suitable  ages.  They  usually  go  by  twos  in  order  to 
emphasize  the  welcome  and  to  give  the  new-comers 
as  many  friends  as  possible  at  the  church.  All  addi- 
tional information  is  noted  on  the  card  after  each 
visit,  with  the  names  of  the  visitors,  so  that  each 
visitor's  work  is  as  effective  as  possible.  Each  secre- 
tary keeps  a  complete  card  index  of  all  the  people  in 
whom  the  church  is  interested  in  her  district,  and 
arranges  for  regular  social  and  other  visits  upon  the 
sick,  shut-ins,  young  mothers,  and  upon  all  whom 
there  is  hope  of  interesting  in  church  or  school  as 
well  as  upon  members  who  are  irregular  or  lack 
interest.  Each  quarter,  before  our  communion,  we 
try  to  have  every  family  visited  to  arouse  interest," 
Says  another:  "We  have  i,ooo  members  divided 


DISTRICT  ORGANIZATION  113 

into  twelve  districts.  Among  the  very  helpful  activi- 
ties of  the  district  committees  during  our  first  two 
years'  use  of  them  we  would  mention:  (i)  They 
have  made  a  complete  religious  census  of  our  com- 
munity with  15,000  population,  securing  1,100 
names  of  unchurched  individuals  and  families  for 
our  mailing  list ;  have  given  to  the  men's  department 
about  600  names  for  their  follow-up  visits  and  have 
furnished  approximately  500,  200  and  450  names  to 
the  women's,  young  people's  and  Sunday-school  de- 
partments respectively.  From  one  to  five  visits  were 
made  upon  all  these  people  before  the  union  evan- 
gelistic campaign,  because  of  which  we  secured  over 
200  members  or  more  than  any  other  three  churches 
in  the  community.  (2)  They  co-operated  with  the 
publicity  for  the  evangelistic  campaign,  and  before 
two  special  sermon  series  by  the  pastor,  by  taking 
printed  cards  or  door-knob  hangers  to  every  un- 
churched home.  (3)  They  have  held  district  socials 
for  all  groups.  At  monthly  district  socials  the  second 
year,  the  women  averaged  over  200  per  month,  al- 
ways holding  a  brief  Bible  study  and  prayer  service, 
followed  by  reading  one  or  more  chapters  from  mis- 
sionary books,  interesting  more  than  twice  as  many 
women  in  missions  and  trebling  their  offerings. 
Sometimes  the  men  or  women  of  one  district  would 
invite  those  of  another  district  and  be  invited  for 
return  visits  the  next  month.  By  many  devices  the 
interest  was  maintained.  To  all  these  socials  they 
have  invited  the  men  or  women  or  young  people 
whom  they  desired  to  interest,  sending  an  attractive 


114  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

invitation  in  the  name  of  the  particular  department 
and  group  which  was  supplemented  by  personally 
written  and  telephoned  invitations  from  the  hosts  and 
hostesses.  (4)  For  one  month  each  year,  we  have 
had  weekly  district  prayer  meetings  which  have  been 
of  great  service  in  preparing  for  the  evangelistic 
campaign  the  first  year  and  for  a  '  Family  Altar 
and  Prayer  League '  campaign  the  second  year." 

A  third  said :  "  We  desire  to  develop  something  of 
the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament '  church  in  the  house 

of '  so  we  arranged  a  home  headquarters  in  each 

of  our  seven  districts,  sometimes  chosen  for  its 
spaciousness  and  sometimes  because  of  the  host  and 
hostess,  to  be  the  meeting  place  of  a  monthly  district 
gathering  for  *  family  prayer,'  preceded  by  a  social 
hour.  Light  refreshments  were  served  by  the  ladies 
of  each  district,  serving  in  turns.  We  averaged 
twenty- three  at  each  meeting  or  161  per  month  though 
our  membership  is  under  600.  Much  was  accom- 
plished to  break  down  our  old-time  formality.  The 
committee  did  a  great  deal  of  calling.  ...  A  report 
blank  was  made  up  with  the  names  of  each  member 
for  each  district,  and  some  district  committee  member 
who  knew  each  one  in  that  district  watched  at  all 
services  and  checked  those  present.  Thus  unusual 
or  prolonged  absences  were  discovered,  so  that  we 
could  tactfully  follow  up  the  negligent  and  find  the 
sick.  .  .  .  Cases  of  need  of  money  or  employment 
were  promptly  put  before  the  social  service  com- 
mittee." 

Says  another:  "We  organized  our  950  members 


DISTRICT  ORGANIZATION  115 

into  sixteen  districts,  arranging  for  them  to  meet 
monthly  during  January  and  February  for  social 
fellowship  and  prayer  and  to  hear  a  chapter  read 
from  a  missionary  book.  By  strenuous  publicity,  we 
secured  an  average  attendance  of  258  each  week. 
Many  whole  families  came  together  and  fully  thirty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  attendants  were  males.  Many 
unchurched  folks  interested  by  their  neighbours  came 
to  church  and  joined  while  our  every-member  canvass 
brought  unprecedented  gains.  The  second  year,  these 
committees  were  better  organized  and  arranged  for 
visiting  every  family  connected  with  the  church  on 
one  afternoon,  with  follow-up  work  greatly  increasing 
the  attendance  at  church  and  Sunday  School.  Nearly 
a  hundred  were  thus  prepared  to  undertake  a  'win 
one '  campaign  and,  after  a  month  of  studies  for 
personal  workers  in  the  prayer  meeting,  we  added 
ninety-eight  to  our  membership  and  the  spiritual  life 
was  greatly  deepened.  Our  district  committees  co- 
operate most  helpfully  with  the  Sunday-school  depart- 
ments, in  looking  after  absentees,  and  have  started 
a  week-day  afternoon  Bible  class  for  women  and  a 
week  evening  class  for  both  sexes." 

One  more  testimony.  "  Our  woman's  department 
made  over  2,200  calls  last  year  in  the  interest  of  the 
church,  and  our  men  1,800,  under  district  leadership. 
Our  attendance  was  increased  nearly  100  per  cent  and 
104  were  added  to  our  membership,  bringing  it  to  over 
500.  Every  one  is  delighted  with  the  method.  We 
began  with  a  general  visitation  Sunday,  October  i, 
to    launch    a    '  Go-to-church    and    Sunday-school 


116  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Month/  With  follow-up  visiting  and  publicity  to 
help,  it  was  most  successful,  so  we  followed  with  a 
January  spiritual  development  campaign  and  a  March 
evangelistic  campaign  almost  exactly  as  detailed  in 
*A  Modern  Church  Program'  (see  Bibliography), 
and  shall  repeat  the  whole  plan  next  year.  It  has 
lifted  us  out  of  the  ruts,  has  greatly  developed  the 
enthusiasm  of  our  people  and  their  loyalty.  After 
the  evangelistic  campaign,  we  had  a  stewardship  and 
finance  campaign.  Since  we  are  a  people  of  moderate 
resources,  we  were  astounded  at  being  able  to  increase 
our  missionary  and  benevolent  gifts  from  $800  to 
over  $2,200  and  our  church  expense  income  from 
$2,600  to  $3,600.  The  district  plan  makes  it  pos- 
sible to  look  after  everybody  and  keep  them  working 
and  growing." 

Surely  in  the  face  of  these  testimonies,  and  in  the 
face  of  the  enormous  losses  of  all  American  bodies 
each  year  by  the  cutting  off  of  deceased  or  indifferent 
members,  it  becomes  necessary  to  try  a  plan  which  is 
after  all  very  simple  and  which  brings  such  splendid 
and  varied  results,  in  small  churches  as  well  as  large. 

How   Make  District  Organization   Effective? 

This  requires  planning  and  work.  Among  helpful 
features  are:  care  in  selecting  and  training  district 
secretaries  and  chairmen,  occasional  conferences — 
before  or  after  the  mid-week  service  or  for  a  whole 
evening — for  exchange  of  ideas  and  methods  and 
enthusiasm  and  transfer  of  names,  careful  selection  of 
departmental  district  representatives,  women  for  sec- 


LAKE  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS. 
t' 1909      '^^^ 


4. 


TC\\ 


A  Parish  Map  with  famihes  located  by  different  colored  tacks, 
being  hung  where  all  workers  can  see  it  at  any  time 


DISTRICT  ORGANIZATION  117 

retaries,  understudies  who  can  serve  in  the  absence 
or  disability  of  secretaries  and  chairmen,  appointing 
workers  who  are  efficient  to  serve  outside  their  resi- 
dence districts  where  necessary,  occasional  confer- 
ences of  the  departmental  representatives  in  each 
district  to  exchange  information  about  the  people, 
launching  the  committee  organization  with  a  general 
visitation  Sunday  to  be  followed  by  an  adequate  cam- 
paign as  outlined  in  the  chapter  on  "  Enlisting  and 
Training  Workers,"  the  devotion  of  an  occasional 
mid-week  service  to  reports  from  committees  and 
workers  to  stimulate  their  enthusiasm,  etc. 

A  church  secretary  should  be  employed  where  pos- 
sible, at  least  for  part  time,  to  keep  the  church  records 
up  to  date,  to  give  information  to  district  and  depart- 
ment secretaries  and  chairmen  and  to  receive  informa- 
tion from  them  for  the  church  records  and  for  the 
pastor,  to  hang  a  map  of  the  parish  where  all  com- 
mittees can  have  access  to  it  with  the  families  and 
prospects  indicated  by  varicoloured  tacks,  etc. 

Variations  of  the  Plan 

Sometimes  a  church  officer  is  chairman  of  each 
district  committee,  but  this  frequently  results  in  its 
breakdown,  since  officers  are  not  all  fitted  for  such 
leadership,  have  varied  capacities,  and  are  already 
overloaded  with  other  church  work.  Sometimes  part 
of  the  officers  are  used  for  chairmen.  Sometimes  the 
chairmen  are  young  men,  who  are  not  on  the  official 
board  but  have  energy  and  interest,  with  an  officer  as 
ex-officio  member  of  each  committee.    In  any  case, 


118  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

men  make  poorer  detail  workers  than  women,  and 
have  less  time  for  records  and  follow-up  work,  so  a 
woman  usually  serves  as  secretary,  helping  to  keep 
the  men  working  diligently. 

Sometimes  the  machinery  is  allowed  to  remain 
dormant  part  of  the  time,  ready  for  service  on  a  large 
scale  when  needed,  as  before  the  autumn  campaign 
or  before  and  during  an  evangelistic  campaign. 
Sometimes  people  are  allowed  to  belong  to  other 
districts. 

In  metropolitan  city  churches,  the  district  plan  is 
often  feasible  only  in  part.  It  needs  to  be  supple- 
mented by  a  group  plan  for  certain  departments.  In 
a  large  Chicago  church,  part  of  the  men  work  in  dis- 
trict committees  but  most  of  the  work  is  done  by  two 
groups.  The  downtown  group,  where  from  twenty 
to  fifty  meet  for  lunch  each  Thursday  to  receive  as- 
signments from  the  secretary  for  the  coming  week 
and  to  make  reports  on  work  done.  A  similar  group 
meets  after  the  mid-week  service.  The  men  and 
women  work  separately  but  are  co-ordinated  by  the 
church  office. 

The  number  of  districts  will  depend  on  the  size  and 
policy,  and  on  available  leaders.  Sometimes  a  large 
church  has  200  people  in  each  general  district  but 
allows  of  their  division  into  subdistricts.  The  small- 
est church  should  have  at  least  two  or  three  districts 
to  develop  some  degree  of  emulation  and  division  of 
responsibility.  If  there  are  too  many  districts,  they 
are  too  small  to  attract  leaders  of  ability  and  to 
compare  ideas,  and  some  will  be  failures.    The  aver- 


DISTRICT  ORGANIZATION  119 

age  will  have  about  forty  families.  In  one  church, 
the  women  have  twelve  districts  because  they  are 
more  numerous,  the  men  have  six  districts  each  in- 
cluding two  of  the  women,  and  the  young  people  have 
three  districts  each  including  four  of  the  women ;  the 
church  has  six  districts. 


IX 


MODERN   WOMEN    AND   THE   EFFICIENT 
CHURCH 

IN  a  Pennsylvania  church,  of  400  members  the 
pastor  organized  his  women  into  seven  district 
committees  to  look  after  new-comers,  visit  the 
disinterested  members,  and  do  whatever  he  might  ask 
of  them.  In  two  years,  they  made  nearly  6,000  calls 
and  265  members  were  added  to  the  church,  with  a 
vast  increase  in  the  membership  and  attendance  of  all 
departments.  In  a  Chicago  church  of  only  189  mem- 
bers, the  new  pastor  secured  the  promises  of  thirty- 
five  women  to  give  several  hours  each  week  to  visit- 
ing the  multitude  of  unchurched  folks  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. He  divided  them  into  seven  districts  each 
with  a  chairman  and  secretary.  Each  district  had 
five  women  and  five  subdistricts,  each  woman  visiting 
every  home  in  one  subdistrict  the  first  week  to  secure 
information  as  to  unchurched  children  and  families 
and  to  invite  them  to  the  church  and  Sunday  School. 
The  second  week,  a  complete  change  was  made  so  that 
a  second  woman  visited  each  unchurched  home  with  a 
new  invitation.  For  five  weeks,  every  unchurched 
family  received  a  visit  and  invitation  each  week  from 
a  different  woman.  The  men  and  young  people  be- 
came aroused  and  followed  up  those  of  their  groups. 
120 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK       121 

The  attendance  was  marvellously  increased  all  along 
the  line.  The  pastor  then  started  a  revival,  adding 
140  members.  The  work  kept  up  and  a  second  series 
of  special  meetings  developed.  Within  a  year  the 
membership  of  every  department  and  class  increased 
from  75  to  200  per  cent,  all  growing  out  of  the  work 
of  women  hitherto  unused  or  used  inadequately. 

I.   New    Conditions   Demanding   New    Policies 

The  question  of  woman's  place  in  the  church,  of 
her  duty  to  and  rights  in  its  official  management,  is 
in  the  foreground.  We  cannot  evade  this  question. 
Let  us  face  squarely  the  fundamental  facts  and 
principles  in  accord  with  which  it  must  be  settled. 

Even  Europe,  supposedly  more  conservative  than 
America,  points  the  way.  The  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land recently  took  unprecedented  action  which  every 
American  congregation  and  denomination  might  emu- 
late by  appointing  a  special  committee  to  "  consider 
the  varied  and  invaluable  services  rendered  by  women 
to  the  life  and  work  of  the  church,  and  the  advan- 
tages that  would  accrue  from  a  more  definite  recog- 
nition of  their  place "  and  to  report  to  the  next 
annual  Assembly  as  to  "  how  this  could  best  be 
effected."  Because  of  its  reasonableness  and  Euro- 
pean origin,  we  quote  at  some  length  the  report  made 
by  this  committee  after  twelve  months  of  careful 
study : 

"  Far-reaching  changes  have  taken  place  in  the 
relation  of  women  to  the  community  during  the  past 
fifty    years,    and    these    necessitate    corresponding 


122  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

changes  in  the  organization  and  work  of  the  church, 
if,  as  a  living  church,  it  is  to  do  its  best  work  in  a 
living  and  changing  world.  .  .  .  The  opening  of 
universities  and  the  granting  of  degrees  to  women  on 
the  same  terms  as  to  men,  with  the  consequent  effects 
upon  the  educational  system,  have  involved  changes 
during  the  past  two  generations  so  vast  that  those 
who  have  lived  through  them  may  fail  to  appreciate 
their  significance. 

''Women  now  serve  on  University  Senates,  on 
School  boards,  on  town  councils,  on  parliamentary 
commissions  and  public  committees,  on  hospital  direc- 
torates, and  in  professional  capacities.  Equally  great 
changes  have  taken  place  in  the  economic  place  of 
women,  and  in  their  admission  to  so  many  posts 
formerly  held  by  men.  The  resultant  effects  upon 
women's  whole  attitude  to  life, — including  their  capa- 
bilities, their  independence,  their  interest  in  the  gen- 
eral life  of  the  people, — and  on  the  social  and  political 
questions  bound  up  with  that  life,  are  incalculable. 
Men  and  women  who  have  sat  on  the  same  benches  at 
the  university,  who  have  laboured  together  on  com- 
mittees and  boards  and  public  tasks,  as  well  as  in 
industry,  are  bound  to  work  out  a  new  type  of  rela- 
tionship. A  feature  of  our  present  social  life  is  the 
spread  in  all  ranks  of  society  of  an  ideal  of  woman 
as  not  only  wife  and  mother  but  also  as  comrade  and 
co-worker. 

"  There  is  imperative  need  that  the  church  should 
reconsider  its  organization  and  methods  of  work  in 
the  light  of  these  changes,  and  should  make  the  read- 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK       123 

justments  necessary  to  the  conditions  of  the  new  age. 
The  core  of  the  Christian  gospel  is  that  Christ  came 
to  give  life  and  to  give  it  more  abundantly.  The 
church,  in  view  of  its  own  essential  aims,  must  desire 
and  encourage  the  awakening  of  latent  powers  and  the 
opening  of  fresh  opportunities  for  self-expression 
and  service.  It  cannot  maintain  barriers  against  new 
forces  in  human  life  that  struggle  for  outlets." 

The  Church  of  England  is  not  guilty  of  fanaticism 
in  the  direction  of  democracy  yet  a  recent  convoca- 
tion decided  that  women  should  be  co-opted  to  her 
boards  of  missions  and  allowed  to  sit  in  parochial 
bodies  and  to  have  other  new  fields  of  official  church 
service  as  well  as  a  vote  in  the  election  of  church 
officials;  steps  encouraged  by  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don and  miany  other  leaders, — the  Archbishop  of 
York  pleading  if  there  were  *'  any  reason  for  the 
mind  of  women  being  excluded  from  the  mind  of  the 
church." 

In  America,  the  changes  in  the  position  of  woman, 
and  the  consequent  urgency  of  reconsidering  her 
place  in  the  church,  are  more  marked  than  in  Europe. 
Less  than  a  century  ago  women  were  admitted  to 
no  American  public  or  high  schools.  Their  admission 
to  colleges  would  have  been  considered  insanity,  wives 
could  not  own  property  or  control  their  children  even 
against  the  most  criminal  of  husbands.  The  minister 
who  permitted  women  to  talk  and  pray  in  organized 
missionary  societies,  or  to  speak  in  any  church  serv- 
ices, was  in  danger  of  trial  as  a  heretic.  Today  women 
are  placed  on  an  equality  with  men  in  many  things. 


124  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Usually  they  exercise  almost  exclusive  oversight  of 
the  children  and  the  economic  affairs  of  the  home. 
They  conduct  clubs,  lodges  and  other  enterprises 
upon  a  gigantic  scale.  They  have  frequently  ad- 
vanced along  educational  lines  and  in  foresight  be- 
yond their  husbands. 

Women  of  large  experience  make  better  house- 
keepers and  wives,  and  give  their  children  larger 
inheritances  of  intelligence  and  power.  As  they  grow 
in  powers,  they  should  have  opportunities  for  using 
them,  for  the  sake  both  of  society  and  of  their  own 
happiness. 

While  women's  societies  and  such  activities  as 
Sunday-school  teaching  give  them  many  lines  of  work, 
they  are  frequently  subject  to  severe  limitations,  and 
are  discouraged,  because  they  must  work  under 
church  boards  made  up  exclusively  of  men,  who  are 
neither  as  consecrated  nor  as  faithful  in  attending  the 
services  and  reading  the  church  papers  as  are  the 
women,  and  whose  plans  are  therefore  less  progres- 
sive and  aggressive.  Were  qualified  women  on  these 
church  boards,  to  stir  the  men  to  good  works  and  to 
see  that  important  matters  are  promptly  and  thor- 
oughly considered  and  acted  upon,  church  efficiency 
would  be  increased  by  an  incalculable  degree.  In 
churches  of  the  middle  class,  many  women  have  both 
larger  leisure  and  larger  training  than  do  their  hus- 
bands for  church  management.  Especially  in  rural 
and  poorer  city  neighbourhoods,  whence  the  picked 
men  have  gone  while  their  capable  sisters  remain,  they 
have  often  larger  inherited  abilities  and  ambitions. 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK       125 

Since  churches  are  community  homes  and  schools, 
while  church  problems  are  largely  home  and  school 
problems  on  a  larger  scale,  the  experiences  of  women 
as  managers  of  houses  and  children  (many  have  also 
been  school  teachers  and  managers)  fit  them  for 
more  efficient  church  management  than  their  husbands 
who  know  little  of  managing  children  or  schools, 
especially  if  they  be  farmers  who  manage  only  cattle, 
or  employees  with  employee  minds  rather  th^n 
executives. 

The  husbands  are  not  so  much  deserving  of  blame. 
They  are  occupied  with  a  vast  variety  of  business 
details,  often  at  a  great  distance  from  the  home  and 
the  church,  in  order  to  support  the  family  adequately 
in  this  age  of  bitter  economic  competition,  and  their 
wives  and  children  require  much  of  their  attention 
when  the  day's  work  is  over.  Their  dealings  being 
often  with  people  and  communities  wholly  apart  from 
those  of  their  churches,  their  very  experiences  sadly 
unfit  them  for  understanding  their  church  members 
and  problems. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  wife  gives  her  thoughts 
almost  exclusively  to  her  church  and  its  environ- 
ment because  she  has  fewer  lodge  and  business  in- 
terests, because  her  associations  are  largely  with 
acquaintances  made  there,  because  she  spends  more 
time  in  the  community  and  at  the  church,  because 
her  children  and  their  playmates  reveal  to  her  their 
community  and  family  needs,  because  she  studies  her 
husband  and  his  needs  more  carefully  than  he  studies 
hers,  because  she  associates  more  with  the  women 


126  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  children  who  constitute  fully  three-fourths  of 
the  church's  constituency  and  because  she  often  learns 
from  them  facts  which  enable  her  to  understand  their 
men-folks  even  more  fully  than  her  husband  does. 

There  are  intelligent  women  in  almost  every  church 
who, — by  home  and  community  experience,  by  leisure 
from  other  cares,  as  well  as  by  experience  of  parlia- 
mentary law  and  committee  management  in  their 
clubs  and  church  societies, — are  better  fitted  for  intel- 
ligent comprehensive  church  legislation  and  execu- 
tive leadership  than  are  their  husbands  and  brothers. 
Women  are  especially  good  in  details  and  promptness. 
Their  zeal  would  insure  quorums  and  enthusiasm, 
Their  wisdom  would  assure  larger  programs  and 
budgets.  Their  inquisitiveness  would  ask  for  audits 
and  for  larger  publicity. 

The  Scotch  Report  continues,  in  brief: 

"  The  tasks  which  the  church  is  called  to  under- 
take are  of  such  magnitude  and  increasing  difficulty 
as  to  require  all  the  resources  at  its  command.  It 
would  be  a  calamity  if  large  stores  of  Christian 
capacity  and  energy  are  allowed  to  remain  partly  or 
wholly  unused. 

"  In  planning  its  work,  the  church  is  deprived  of  the 
special  experience  and  distinctive  contribution  of 
women.  It  is  impossible  for  a  body  exclusively  of 
men  to  possess  the  necessary  intimate  and  instinctive 
knowledge  of  women's  needs  and  circumstances,  an 
omission  the  more  serious  in  view  of  new  social  condi- 
tions and  problems. 

^*  The  present  want  of  correlation  between  women's 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK        127 

work  for  Foreign  and  Home  missions  and  the  general 
work  of  the  church  is  not  in  the  interest  of  the  high- 
est efficiency.  Sometimes  a  court  of  men  fails  to 
show  sufficient  sympathy  with  the  women's  fund, 
and  on  the  women's  side  there  is  the  possibiHty  of 
action  which  does  not  take  account  of  all  congre- 
gational circumstances.  In  every  place  where  the  in- 
dependent work  by  women  touches  the  work  of  the 
church  as  a  whole,  in  congregation  or  in  national 
body,  the  same  lack  of  correlation  results  in  reduced 
efficiency. 

"  There  is  a  serious  tendency  among  able  Christian 
women  to  seek  opportunities  for  service  in  public 
and  philanthropic  activities  rather  than  in  the  direct 
work  of  the  church,  because  they  find  larger  freedom 
and  scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  special  gifts.  It 
appears  of  vital  importance  that  Christian  women  find 
as  open  a  field  for  their  powers  in  the  church  as  out- 
side. Otherwise  the  church  will  be  deprived  of  in- 
dispensable resources." 

When  we  consider  what  Christian  women  have 
done  since  the  days  of  Priscilla,  Phoebe  and  Blandina, 
the  vast  sums  of  money  they  have  raised,  the  im- 
petus they  have  given  to  Sunday  School  and  mission- 
ary progress,  the  churches  which  would  be  dead  but 
for  their  zeal  and  sacrifices,  and  the  contributions 
they  have  made  to  the  social  and  evangelistic  efficiency 
of  the  churches  through  hospitality  to  new-comers, 
surely  there  can  be  no  question  that  their  growing 
powers  should  be  utilized  in  larger  plans  and  in  larger 
degrees. 


128  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

11.   The  Rightful  Place  of  Women  in  Modern 
Churches 

We  cannot  evade  the  fact  that  the  Church  needs 
to  utilize  her  spiritual  and  practical  capacities  in 
wiser  fashion.  What,  then,  is  woman's  rightful  share 
in  the  work  of  the  Church  today?  What  should  be 
her  official  responsibilities?  What  shall  be  the  next 
steps  to  conserve  to  the  utmost  her  newly  developed 
powers  and  the  leisure  brought  to  her  by  the  intro- 
duction of  present  household  methods  and  labour- 
saving  machinery  ?  The  suggestive  recommendations 
of  the  Scotch  committee  were: 

1.  That  the  Assembly  remind  the  congregations 
that  women  are  now  eligible  for  service  on  all  con- 
gregational committees,  including  Boards  of  Manage- 
ment (corresponding  largely  to  American  Trustees 
and  Finance  Committees),  and  declare  them  eligible 
to  Deacons'  Courts. 

2.  Approval  of  the  association  of  women  with 
Kirk- Sessions  for  consultative  purposes  and  for  the 
discharge  of  certain  pastoral  duties;  such  women  to 
be  elected  by  the  congregation,  solemnly  set  apart, 
and  to  constitute  a  Women's  Advisory  Committee  of 
the  Session. 

3.  That  the  Assembly  instruct  its  Foreign  and  each 
of  six  other  Boards  and  Committees  to  co-opt  to 
their  number  as  full  voting  members  a  proportion  of 
women  not  to  exceed  one-sixth  of  their  membership ; 
and  authorize  Presbyteries  to  add  women  to  their 
committees.     The  committee  also  suggested  that  the 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK       129 

time  was  coming  when  women  could  become  elders 
and  enter  every  field  of  service  open  to  laymen ;  with- 
out discussing  whether  they  should  become  ministers 
or  not. 

Approving  these  Scotch  ideas,  we  would  add  that  in 
some  cases  American  churches  have  already  gone 
beyond  these  Scotch  recommendations.  Baptist,  Con- 
gregational, Friends  and  other  bodies  ordain  women 
to  the  ministry.  We  believe  all  denominations  will 
soon  make  women  eligible  to  all  congregational  offices 
and  in  most  churches  they  will  constitute  from  twenty 
to  fifty  per  cent  of  the  members  of  the  committees  on 
education,  finance,  social  service,  etc.  As  a  start, 
a  board  of  deaconesses  can  be  appointed  to  visit  every 
family  in  the  church  during  the  year  and  report  their 
findings  in  writing. 

III.    Objections  to  Women  as  Church  Officers 

We  are  told  that  "  woman's  place  is  in  the  home," 
but  that  simply  emphasizes  her  duty  in  the  church 
for  it  is  the  community  home  in  which  God's  children 
meet  as  brothers  and  sisters  and  in  which  women 
should  have  just  as  prominent  a  place  as  in  house- 
keeping. 

"  Men  do  not  like  to  meet  with  women  ?  "  Men 
do  like  to  meet  with  women  in  school  and  social  life. 
When  churches  fail  to  reach  the  men  it  is  often 
because  the  male  church  officers  do  not  appeal  to 
them.  Dr.  M.  B.  Riddle  always  reminded  his  pupils 
that  "  there  are  old  women  of  both  sexes."  Has  the 
Methodist  Church  lost  men  because  it  allows  women 


130  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

on  its  official  boards  and  sends  them  to  vote  in  its 
General  Conferences?  Do  hospitals  and  orphanages 
suffer  because  women  serve  as  directors  ? 

We  are  told  women  do  not  want  office.  Even  if 
this  were  accurate,  it  is  not  a  question  of  what  they 
want  or  do  not  want,  but  of  what  God  in  His 
providence  desires  them  to  do.  Besides  younger 
women  are  asking  a  place  and  they  are  the  ones 
whose  loss  the  Church  of  tomorrow  would  miss 
seriously. 

We  are  told  that  women  are  physically  and  men- 
tally weak.  In  politics  there  has  been  some  argu- 
ment for  refusing  office  to  women  because  they  can 
not  bear  arms,  and  the  saloon  men  make  zealous  use 
of  it;  but  militarist  standards,  which  are  losing 
ground  in  the  state  as  women  render  indispensable 
services  in  times  of  war  and  peace,  have  no  place 
in  the  kingdom  of  peace  and  love  for  which  the 
Church  stands.  Intellectual  strength  is  not  of  sex 
but  of  opportunity.  Her  spiritual  strength  developed 
through  her  suffering  is  a  powerful  asset. 

We  are  told  that  Paul  kept  women  in  the  back- 
ground. In  an  age  when  women  who  spoke  in  public 
or  who  appeared  unveiled  were  stamped  as  immoral, 
expediency  demanded  and  Paul  taught  that  women 
should  conform  to  heathen  custom  for  the  sake  of 
the  Church's  reputation.  But  times  have  changed. 
Women  are  no  longer  kept  in  harems.  Miriam  and 
Deborah,  and  the  women  whom  Jesus  honoured  (for 
He  honoured  woman  far  above  any  heathen  prophet) 
were  but  forerunners  of  a  Christian  age  in  which 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK       131 

woman  should  assume  a  larger  place,  and  receive  her 
proper  honours  and  responsibilities,  in  the  field  of 
religion.  We  find  that  Priscilla  was  esteemed  with 
her  husband,  that  deaconesses  were  appointed  in  the 
apostolic  years  of  the  Church  and  favoured  by  Luther 
and  Calvin,  and  that  Catholicism  is  our  authority  for 
depriving  them  of  much  of  their  primitive  Christian 
freedom. 

''  Our  church  boards  are  already  large  enough," 
some  churches  truly  say;  but  women  would  add 
*'  something  new,  making  possible  a  larger,  richer, 
more  balanced  view  than  men  or  women  could  take 
alone,"  and  the  question  is  not  size  but  efficiency. 

If  church  law  forbids  electing  them  to  certain 
boards,  selected  women  can  at  least  be  appointed  on 
all  congregational  committees  and  can  be  made  ad- 
visory members  of  any  board. 

IV.   Making  the  Women's  Department 
Efficient 

How  shall  the  women  of  the  church  be  so  organized 
as  to  perform  most  effectively  their  duties  as  and 
for  women,  aside  from  their  duties  in  and  to  the 
church  as  a  whole?  The  chapters  on  departmental 
and  committee  efficiency  contain  valuable  hints  in 
addition  to  the  suggestions  we  can  give  here. 

I.  Let  the  women  strive  to  secure  larger  efficiency 
in  the  planning  and  management  of  the  church  as  a 
whole,  and  to  secure  such  perfect  co-ordination  of 
their  plans  and  committee  work  with  those  of  the 
boards  and  other  departments  and  committees  as 


132  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

will  insure  harmony  and  fullest  success  for  their  own 
work  as  well  as  for  the  church. 

2.  Let  the  women  as  carefully  plan  and  as  at- 
tractively arrange  their  programs  as  do  the  best 
women's  literary  clubs.  Too  many  plans  are  pitifully 
inadequate,  and  too  many  meetings  are  dull  from  lack 
of  both  preparation  and  enthusiasm. 

3.  Unify  all  the  women  in  the  church,  and  all  the 
work  for  and  by  women,  in  one  official  woman's 
department.  In  large  churches,  sometimes  500  to 
1,000  women  are  well  organized  in  such  a  department. 
The  women  should  be  a  compact  unit.  Overlapping 
and  overlooking,  if  not  friction,  are  certain  when  two 
or  more  women's  groups  work  as  independent  rivals. 
The  women's  department  should  be  authorized  and  its 
plans  and  policies  indorsed  by  the  official  body  of  the 
church,  receiving  full  authority  and  responsibility  for 
ministering  to  all  the  needs  and  directing  all  the 
abilities  of  the  women  of  the  church,  all  of  whom,  by 
congregational  law,  not  merely  by  the  action  of  the 
women,  automatically  become  members  of  the 
women's  department  by  joining  the  church.  (See  my 
article  in  Ladies'  Home  Journal,  September,  1916.) 

4.  If  early  unification  of  all  societies  into  one 
organism  is  impossible,  work  out  such  a  plan  of 
federation,  approved  by  the  church  boards,  as  shall 
co-ordinate  their  varied  activities  through  joint  com- 
mittees on  program,  work,  etc. 

5.  The  president,  secretary  and  other  officers 
should  be  chosen  solely  on  the  grounds  of  ability 
and  leadership,  not  because  of  past  services  or  as  an 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK      133 

honour.    There  should  be  a  time  limit  to  such  serv- 
ice unless  by  unanimous  vote. 

6.  Committees  should  be  appointed  by  the  presi- 
dent and  cabinet,  the  chairman  and  secretary  for 
each  being  first  chosen  with  greatest  care  and  having 
large  freedom  in  selecting  additional  members  and 
in  the  development  of  policies,  all  committees  being 
co-ordinated  through  the  executive  or  cabinet,  includ- 
ing the  officers  and  committee  chairmen.  Sometimes 
commissions  are  appointed  as  bearing  more  authority 
than  committees.  Each  committee  should  seek  the 
co-ordination  of  the  plans  and  work  of  all  committees 
in  the  church  having  similar  functions. 

7.  A  committee  on  Bible  Study  and  Religious  Edu- 
cation should  be  authorized  as,  or  to  co-operate  with, 
the  women's  department  of  the  church  school  in  order 
to  enlist  all  women  in  definite  Bible  study,  arranging 
for  afternoon  classes  on  week-days  or  on  Sunday,  or 
on  an  evening,  at  the  church  or  by  districts,  for  those 
who  cannot  attend  at  the  regular  school  hour ;  also  to 
promote  the  home  department  work  and  to  arrange 
for  class  and  group  and  departmental  prayer  meet- 
ings unless  an  efficient  Devotional  committee  assume 
responsibility  for  this  great  interest. 

8.  Such  committees  should  be  appointed  as :  Home 
Missions,  Foreign  Missions,  Finance,  Social,  Social 
Service,  Pastor's  Aid, — to  help  in  church  office  work, 
visiting, etc., — District — to  promote  social,  educational, 
spiritual  and  other  interests  among  smaller  groups, — 
especially  to  visit  the  sick,  indifferent,  lonely,  new- 
comers and  others  who  might  be  induced  to  join, 


134  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

working  for  children  as  well  as  for  women — and  co- 
operating with  similar  committees  of  the  church  and 
other  departments — Work  for  and  by  Young  Women 
and  Girls,  organizing  them  into  guilds,  mission  bands, 
Camp-fire  Girls,  circles,  etc.,  built  upon  the  same 
policies  and  with  the  same  functions  as  the  women's 
society;  each  committee  to  appoint  the  necessary 
subcommittees. 

9.  The  arrangements  for  meetings  by  one  consoli- 
dated women's  department  are : 

First  Tuesday  of  each  month:  luncheon  at  the 
church  at  cost,  for  all  who  will  come,  arranged  by  the 
social  committee,  with  sewing  before  and  after  lunch 
for  the  hospital  or  Red  Cross,  or  as  arranged  by  the 
Social  Service  Commission,  followed  by:  2.30-3.00, 
special  music  and  educational  talks;  3.00-3.30,  Bible 
study  and  prayer;  3.30-4.15,  to  Home  Mission  papers 
and  discussion;  4.15-4.45,  business  and  social  hour. 

Third  Tuesdays :  same  as  above  with  Foreign  Mis- 
sion themes. 

Second  and  fourth  Tuesdays :  group  meetings  for 
Bible  or  mission  study  and  prayer,  and  social  pur- 
poses, in  each  of  the  ten  districts,  hours  and  programs 
being  decided  by  each  district. 

Fifth  Tuesdays :  addresses  by  men  and  women  of 
note,  either  for  the  one  society  or  for  the  city  federa- 
tion of  church  women. 

10.  Will  women  object  to  the  subjection  of  their 
department  to  the  Official  Board,  or  to  uniting  in 
one  department  instead  of  several  societies?  Not 
when  they  are  allowed  adequate  representation  on 


WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  WORK      135 

the  Official  Board  as  suggested  in  that  Chapter,  and 
when  they  are  given  an  adequate  vision  of  the  goals 
and  ideals  of  the  modern  church  and  its  methods. 
Of  course  the  department  can  permit  as  many  sub- 
divisions as  may  be  necessary  or  desirable :  Business 
Women's  Guild,  College  Women's  Guild,  Young 
Mothers'  Class,  etc.,  all  under  the  supervision  of  the 
department,  yet  semi-independent. 


X 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  AND  YOUNG 
PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENTS 

AS  we  have  already  suggested,  the  best  modern 
A\  educators  insist  that  the  efficient  church  of 
•^  "^  tomorrow  will  unify  all  the  religious  interests 
of  its  children  and  young  people  through  one  agency, 
the  Church  School,  with  functions  and  ideals  so 
enlarged  and  with  organizations  so  modernized  as  to 
provide  for  all  objectives  that  can  possibly  be  served 
by  the  present  miscellany  of  young  people's  and  chil- 
dren's organizations. 

Says  Dr.  Athearn  in  his  superb  discussion  of 
the  matter  ("The  Church  School,"  Chapters  I  and 
II)  :  "  The  arguments  which  have  given  us  the  graded 
school  curriculum  must  also  provide  for  graded  wor- 
ship and  graded  expression.  The  efficient  administra- 
tion of  an  educational  program  demands  emphasis 
on  the  fa<:t  that  religious  expression  is  a  part  of  the 
process  of  religious  teaching.  It  must  follow  that  the 
organizations  which  have  sprung  up  as  agencies  for 
the  expression  of  religious  life  must  be  correlated 
with  the  church  school  and  that  one  board  of  officers 
must  administer  both  sides  of  the  educational  pro- 
gram. When  a  pupil  is  promoted  from  one  school 
department  to  another,  he  should  pass  into  all  phases 
of  the  work  of  the  new  department." 
136 


YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENTS    137 

Under  this  plan,  there  should  be  as  many  young 
peoples'  societies  in  a  church  as  there  are  Sunday- 
school  departments,  Primary  (if  desired),  Junior 
Intermediate,  Senior  and  Advanced.  (See  chart, 
page  138.)  Where  the  departments  are  not  large 
enough,  two  could  be  consolidated,  but  this  should 
seldom  be  done  when  a  department  has  as  many  as 
ten  members. 

Class  loyalty  should  be  developed,  and  each  class 
should  be  a  unit  for  social  and  other  activities,  under 
the  direction  of  the  teacher  and  of  temporary  com- 
mittees up  to  the  Intermediate  department  when 
class  officers  and  a  few  permanent  committees  should 
be  chosen  to  co-operate  with  the  teacher  in  leadership. 
The  more  advanced  the  grade,  the  more  definite 
should  be  the  class  organization  and  the  committee 
responsibilities.  The  International  Sunday  School 
Assocation  suggests  that  organized  classes  appoint 
committees  on  missions,  devotional  life  (class  prayer 
meetings,  etc.),  social  life,  citizenship,  flowers,  look- 
out work,  etc.  The  spread  of  such  classes  is  phe- 
nomenal. Says  Mr.  Alexander,  Superintendent  of  the 
Secondary  Division  of  the  International  Sunday- 
school  Association,  "  On  December  25,  1913,  only 
479  Secondary  Organized  classes  were  registered. 
Two  years  later  the  number  had  jumped  to  21,620. 
At  the  present  rate  of  growth,  soon  we  will  have 
half  a  million  pupils  in  such  classes." 

The  class  committees  of  each  department  should  be 
federated,  all  social  committees  co-operating  for 
departmental  purposes;  likewise  all  devotional  and 


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YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENTS    139 

other  committees.  Says  Dr.  Athearn  ("The  Or- 
ganization and  Administration  of  the  Church 
School,"  p.  298,  Pilgrim  Press)  :  "  The  groups  within 
a  department  should  share  in  the  responsibilities  of 
the  joint  organization.  .  .  .  All  groups  and  classes 
should  mingle  freely  in,  and  share  m  the  work  of,  the 
department  so  that  departm.ent  loyalty  absorbs  the 
loyalty  of  the  smaller  groups.  Three  or  four  times 
a  year,  the  whole  school  must  be  brought  together 
in  special  services  which  will  weld  the  whole  school 
into  a  social  unit."  Thus  departmental  loyalty  is 
developed  into  loyalty  to  the  school  and  to  the  church. 

If  departmental  and  class  organization  do  not  ade- 
quately meet  the  sex,  class  and  racial  needs.  Dr. 
Athearn  suggests  "  the  organization  of  clubs  or  social 
groups  corresponding  to  our  Boy  Scouts,  Camp-fire 
Girls,  sewing  classes,  athletic  teams,  etc.,  which  are 
within  the  control  of,  but  do  not  include,  the  whole 
group  of  a  given  department,  but  all  these  groups 
should  meet  and  freely  mingle  in  common  depart- 
mental groups  regardless  of  race,  colour  or  station  in 
life,  and  the  differences  which  have  made  necessary 
the  smaller  groups  must  gradually  disappear,  the 
entire  being  unified  on  the  level  of  the  larger  group." 
Of  course  the  fourfold  development  of  children  must 
be  insured  by  proper  efforts  in  behalf  of  their  social, 
physical  and  mental  interests  as  of  their  religious 
development. 

To  provide  for  the  expressional  education  now 
secured  through  the  young  people's  societies,  Dr. 
Athearn  urges  a  longer  school  period,  including,  say : 


140  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

9.30-9.50,  Departmental  worship;  9.50-10.20,  Class 
instruction;  10.20-10.50,  Expressional  period  with 
activities  corresponding  to  those  of  the  young  peo- 
ple's societies.  Where  the  school  period  is  not  long 
enough,  the  expressional  meeting  of  each  depart- 
ment may  be  arranged  at  some  later  hour  in  the  day, 
or  on  a  week-day,  just  as  in  the  present  young  people's 
societies,  but  it  should  be  a  part  of  the  official  depart- 
mental plan  and  curriculum. 

The  departments  would  be  managed  as  in  the  ordi- 
nary Sunday  School  save  that  larger  departmental 
usefulness  and  unity  would  be  developed  under  the 
lead  of  the  departmental  superintendent  by  the  ap- 
pointment and  direction  of  departmental  committees 
co-ordinating  the  class  committees,  and  by  fixing  an 
official  period  for  the  expressional  meeting  so  that 
all  would  benefit  instead  of  merely  those  who  might 
be  attracted  to  join  an  independent  group  and  sign  a 
pledge. 

At  present,  as  an  investigation  by  Dr.  Athearn 
revealed,  the  membership  of  the  young  people's  so- 
cieties of  all  ages  in  100  churches  was  only  18.29  per 
cent  of  the  church  membership,  so,  since  many  mem- 
bers were  children  unconnected  with  the  church,  the 
needs  of  many  members  are  at  present  entirely  unmet 
by  the  society  plan.  Dr.  Athearn  suggests  as  one 
great  blemish  of  the  present  society  plan  its  failure 
to  provide  for  a  system  of  society  promotions  just 
as  in  the  class  work,  since  some  "quit  before  their 
time  to  quit  and  others  never  feel  that  they  should 
move  on,"  so  that  societies  are  hampered  both  by 


YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENTS    141 

members  who  are  too  young  and  by  those  who  are 
too  old.  He  adds  ("  The  Church  School,"  pp. 
2i9ff.)>  "Care  must  be  taken  not  to  create  an 
extraneous  organization  which  cannot  be  easily 
sloughed  off  when  outgrown.  The  function  of  any 
society  is  to  promote  the  welfare  of  its  own  members, 
not  to  keep  intact  the  machinery  of  any  state  or 
national  organization,  denominational  or  otherwise. 
.  .  .  The  ideal  organization  is  a  homogeneous  local 
group  having  organic  connection  with  the  church, 
under  the  direction  of  a  trained  educator.  It  may  in- 
clude many  interests  but  it  should  centralize  its 
activity  in  a  Bible  Class  or  other  interest  definitely 
related  to  the  church  or  church  school.  All  activities 
should  be  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  teacher, 
correlated  with  the  lessons ;  while  all  public  programs, 
etc.,  affecting  the  life  of  the  school  should  have  the 
approval  of  the  Director  of  Religious  Education ;  and 
all  should  be  under  the  governmental  authority  of  the 
church  educational  committee." 

Some  Vital  Problems 

We  would  urge  every  reader  to  study  the  books 
we  have  referred  to,  but  some  pertinent  questions 
deserve  consideration  here. 

Shall  young  people's  societies  all  be  immediately 
disbanded  ?  That  does  not  follow.  We  have  been  dis- 
cussing an  ideal  that  should  be  attained  by  wise  steps 
according  to  local  conditions.  The  policies  and  the 
leadership  in  the  average  school,  as  well  as  the  teach- 
ers, must  be  more  efficient  before  we  can  attain  the 


142  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

ideal.  A  class  for  the  study  of  religious  education 
and  the  training  of  departmental  leaders  is  the  first 
step. 

Meantime  the  church  committee  on  religious  educa- 
tion and  other  committees  should  confer  with  the 
young  people's  society  leaders  as  to  their  proper 
organic  relations  with  the  church  and  its  work  and 
program,  should  bring  them  into  the  church  cabinet 
and  conferences,  should  secure  their  intelligent  co- 
operation, including  tentative  age  lines  and  definite 
promotion  policies  in  accord  with  those  of  the  church 
school.  Departments  and  classes  for  whose  members 
no  societies  exist  should  seek  to  meet  their  needs  by 
trying  out  the  new  plan  and  demonstrating  its  work- 
ableness, church  committees  should  secure  the 
appointment  and  correlation  of  corresponding  com- 
mittees in  each  department  and  class  of  suitable  age 
to  provide  for  matters  as  yet  neglected,  and  steps 
can  be  taken  towards  an  adequate  educational  policy 
to  include  modern  departmental  and  social  rooms. 

Young  people's  societies  will  long  flourish  in  rural 
communities  where  there  are  no  evening  services, 
where  school  grades  have  not  fixed  age  groups,  and 
where  social  meetings  are  not  over-abundant.  They 
serve  a  fine  purpose  when  they  bring  the  sexes  to- 
gether. It  is  better  that  they  mingle  and  mate  in  the 
church  than  in  dance  halls  or  other  demoralizing 
places.  But  where  societies  live  only  to  perpetrate  a 
faded  glory,  their  leaders  should  be  tactfully  led  to 
see  that  there  is  a  better  way. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  danger  that  expressional 


YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENTS    143 

and  social  matters  will  be  neglected,  that  the  organ- 
ized class  will  crowd  out  the  societies  without  filling 
the  need,  that  the  school  hour  will  be  insufficient  for 
the  full  task.  Then  some  supplementary  activities 
must  be  provided  for.  Possibly  church  committees 
will  provide  for  district  study  groups  of  all  ages. 
Possibly  a  social  hour  can  be  arranged  for  each  Sun- 
day evening,  including  choral  singing  and  a  brief 
devotional  service,  followed  by  a  light  supper  or  tea 
just  before  the  evening  services. 

Dr.  Clark's  original  society  received  its  initial  im- 
pulse from  a  revival,  and  he  was  its  constant  coun- 
sellor. It  did  not  exist  for  the  sake  of  numbers. 
It  was  a  real  Pastor's  Aid  Society.  Where  a  sepa- 
rate society  is  desirable,  it  is  better  to  start  with  a 
small  group  of  really  sincere,  working  and  praying, 
young  people  and  to  add  members  slowly  only  as  they 
can  be  truly  assimilated  and  given  the  needed  spiritual 
culture  and  oversight.  The  custom  of  organizing  a 
crowd  of  young  folks  with  no  spiritual  leadership  is 
wicked.  It  sets  inadequate  ideals  and  leads  them 
falsely  to  believe  they  are  doing  spiritual  service, 
while  it  prevents  a  proper  appeal  on  behalf  of  a 
Leader's  or  Teacher's  Training  group.  A  prayer 
band  of  ten  is  often  more  desirable  than  a  rabble  of 
fifty. 

The  young  people  and  children  are  tHe  church  of 
tomorrow,  and  must  be  developed  for  leadership  as 
well  as  for  their  own  sakes.  They  should  be  organ- 
ized, not  to  free  the  older  folks  of  responsibility  but 
to  give  better  opportunity  for  co-operation  by  wise, 


144  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

young-hearted,  forward-looking  elder  leaders.  As 
military  academies  conform  to  the  activities  of  real 
armies,  so  young  people's  and  children's  organiza- 
tions should  conform  to  the  ideals  and  standards  and 
machinery  of  the  church  in  which  they  are  expected 
to  work.  Many  and  varied  plans  for  successful  work 
with  young  children  are  found  in  Hulbert's  '*  Church 
and  Her  Children."  The  "Children's  Church" 
which  he  so  well  describes,  and  which  the  efficiency 
report  of  the  Reformed  Church  suggests  in  various 
workable  forms,  with  its  services  and  officers,  is 
found  invaluable  in  many  places. 

In  any  case,  the  Young  People  should  become  vot- 
ing members  of  the  congregation  at  eighteen  years 
of  age,  and  their  work  should  thereafter  be  semi- 
independent  of  the  lower  departments  of  the  Church 
School,  being  affiliated  with  the  Adult  Departments. 

At  least  two  of  their  number  should  sit  in  the 
Pastor's  Cabinet  and  on  the  Official  Board.  The  un- 
married folks  above  twenty-four  may  be  affiliated 
directly  with  them  in  their  social  meetings,  etc.  A 
Young  Married  Folks'  Club  can  be  one  of  their  sup- 
plemental organizations.  All  their  classes  should  be 
organized  with  officers  and  committees. 

As  to  Sunday-school  management,  space  forbids  its 
adequate  treatment.  Readers  are  referred  to  the 
many  valuable  volumes  already  covering  this  field. 


XI 

THE  EFFICIENT  MEN'S  DEPARTMENT 
I.   The  Problem  of  Interesting  Men 

WHY  is  the  man  problem  commonly  regarded 
the  most  difficult  for  American  churches? 
Why  have  they  3,000,000  more  female  than 
male  members  ?  Why  do  they  average  four  enthusi- 
astic women  workers  to  one  man?  The  causes  are 
comprehensible. 

First,  a  woman  has  fewer  outside  interests.  Her 
days  and  nights  are  more  largely  spent  in  the  home 
with  her  children.  Her  knowledge  is  chiefly  confined 
to  the  community.  Her  friends  are  chiefly  in  the 
church  and  its  departments  so  that  she  meets  them 
when  she  goes  to  services  and  not  often  otherwise. 
Her  husband,  in  his  business,  meets  and  makes 
friends  among  folks  from  other  churches  and  com- 
munities and  he  is  accustomed  to  find  recreation  and 
new  acquaintances  among  the  lodges  and  clubs,  so 
that  he  has  a  smaller  fraction  of  his  friends  and  in- 
terests in  the  church  and  community. 

Church  work  and  services  are  usually  calculated  to 
appeal  primarily  to  zvomen.  Says  Henry  F.  Cope 
(''The  Efficient  Layman,"  pp.  7,  8,  24):  "As 
churches  are  conducted  today,  they  meet  the  needs  of 
the  feminine  type  so  much  more  closely  that  they 
145 


146  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

show  men  as  less  churchly  than  women.  When  the 
Church  meets  the  needs  of  real  men  as  they  are,  the 
men  will  be  there  in  due  proportions.  .  .  .  Since 
singing  is  rather  an  act  of  adoration  than  of  activity, 
music  has  a  larger  place  in  the  religious  life  of 
women  than  of  men.  ...  In  how  many  hymns  can 
a  man  join  heartily?  Does  a  healthy  vigorous  man 
want  to  '  rise  in  the  arms  of  faith '  or  to  *  fly  to 
world  unknown'?  Since  men  are  asked  at  every 
service  to  sing  hymns  written  for  women  or  by 
sedentary  saints,  the  wonder  is  that  so  many  go 
through  the  performance." 

Christ  and  His  apostles  were  men,  they  made  sacri- 
fices like  men,  they  spoke  in  the  language  and 
laboured  in  the  spirit  of  men  of  their  day,  and  the 
Church  must  emulate  them  now  to  win  men. 

The  average  man  believes  the  Church  to  he 
antiquated.  He  believes  the  Bible  class  to  be  far 
more  concerned  with  the  ancient  Hittites  than  with 
modern  social  conditions,  remembering  the  former 
classes  which  were  largely  made  up  of  amateur  theo- 
logians and  sectarians.  He  knows  that  the  church 
has  a  session,  deacons,  or  a  consistory;  as  well  as  a 
Presbytery,  a  classis,  a  diocese,  or  a  Synod;  but  he 
does  not  know  Greek  and  concludes  these  ancient 
Greek  names  mean  matters  as  ancient.  He  recalls 
the  purely  subjective  Sunday-school  teaching  of  his 
childhood. 

Suppose  the  Church  had  names  as  modern  and 
intelligible  as  the  city  council;  that  he  were  con- 
vinced that  the  Church  regards  honourable  business 


EFFICIENT  MEN'S  DEPARTMENT   147 

^  and  clean  politics  as  also  sacred  callings  presented 
by  Almighty  God;  that  he  were  made  to  understand 
how  practical  and  magnificent  are  the  plans  of  the 
Church — experience  shows  that  his  attention  would 
be  challenged. 

He  considers  church  affairs  petty.  The  com- 
mercial club  and  other  city  affairs  command  his 
respect;  but  he  takes  for  granted  that  the  churches 
have  neither  community-wide  vision  and  program 
nor  the  co-operative  spirit,  and  that  they  maintain 
the  former  selfish  sectarian  objectives  and  denomi- 
national jealousies  which  he  despises.  He  wants  a  big 
city-wide  movement,  and  city-wide  co-operation  will 
arouse  enthusiasm. 

He  is  given  no  definite  responsibility.  He  has 
never  been  enlisted  in  a  worthy  task  with  proper 
preparation.  His  proposed  men's  club  has  but  a 
vague  program  and  policy.  He  is  scolded  for  not 
doing  anything  when  he  has  never  been  given,  and 
has  no  offer  of,  a  clear-cut  explanation  of  what  the 
Church  is  seeking  to  do,  or  of  how  he  can  help. 

Men  want  democracy,  and  a  really  democratic 
church  is  rare,  even  among  those  which  praise  it 
most.  Men  have  been  taught  the  right  of  self-gov- 
ernment for  over  a  century,  yet  they  go  to  Sunday 
School  to  have  no  more  voice  in  the  selection  of 
officers,  or  in  the  government  of  the  school,  than  their 
six-year-old  sons.  The  success  of  organized  Adult 
Bible  Classes  points  the  way  to  church  success  with 
men.  Having  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  their  teach- 
ers and  courses  of  study  and  of  committee  men  to  do 


148  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

something,  hearing  their  representatives  speak  about 
departmental  business  at  each  meeting  and  having  a 
vote  on  that  business  as  well  as  a  right  to  talk  back, 
their  self-respect  is  maintained.  But  when  it  comes 
to  church  business,  what  chance  has  the  average  man? 
Once  each  year  he  is  wearied  by  an  endless  series  of 
reports  of  departments  he  knows  nothing  about,  in 
tones  which  do  not  impress  him,  concerning  trifling 
matters.  After  hearing  a  bewildering  maze  of  ma- 
terial that  he  has  no  power  to  digest  in  one  short 
night,  he  is  asked  to  vote  for  a  slate  and  approve  a 
policy  he  has  had  no  voice  in  formulating.  Dislik- 
ing to  start  discussion  at  a  late  hour,  if  he  has  not 
already  left,  he  silently  acquiesces  in  all  that  is  said, 
but  perhaps  does  not  return  next  year. 

Suppose  church  machinery  and  plans  were  stand- 
ardized like  those  of  his  farm  so  he  could  under- 
stand; suppose  one  whole  evening  were  given  to 
hearing  and  discussing  reports  of  boards  and  their 
committees  with  ample  time  to  secure  an  understand- 
ing of  affairs  and  reach  his  own  conclusions,  and 
with  a  hospitable  hearing  for  his  sincere  opinions 
but  a  time  limit  for  mere  self -advertisers, — the 
Church  would  mean  something  to  him. 

Suppose  again  that  the  men's  department  were  a 
real  force  instead  of  a  talking  society;  that  it  named 
three  or  more  of  the  church  officers;  that  it  could 
really  help  direct  church  policies;  that  a  Bible  class 
period  each  month,  or  eight  Sundays  before  the  an- 
nual meeting,  were  given  to  full  and  frank  discussion 
of  the  church's  defects  in  policy  and  work  and  an 


EFFICIENT  MEN'S  DEPARTMENT    149 

exchange   of   ideas   of   what   should   be   done    and 
how, — he  could  be  enthused. 

Men's  organizations  are  seldom  broad  enough. 
The  term  Brotherhood  implies  simply  social  concerns 
and  the  average  busy  man  prefers  to  spend  his  time 
with  his  family  unless  social  engagements  serve  a 
double  purpose, — giving  him  new  standing  and  busi- 
ness acquaintances  as  at  the  club,  or  securing  self- 
advertisement  and  self-poise  as  at  the  lodge, — so  he 
does  not  go  to  men's  socials  unless  guaranteed  a  first- 
class  speaker  or  supper,  or  unless  other  great  benefits 
are  to  be  gained  or  given.  If  his  men's  organization 
is  doing  a  worth-while  work  for  the  boys  and  the 
community,  or  plays  a  real  part  by  helpful  discussions 
of  community  interests  and  church  business,  he  can 
usually  be  induced  to  take  notice  and  accept  a  chance 
to  get  something  done.  Drastic  steps  must  be  taken 
to  give  the  men's  department  the  dignity  and  impor- 
tance which  will  make  it  a  power. 

Elements  in  the  Solution  of  the  Problem 

1.  Make  the  church  more  modern  in  its  terminol- 
ogy, more  manly  in  its  services,  more  purposeful  in 
its  plans,  more  aggressive  in  its  challenge  to  do  things 
worth  doing. 

2.  Give  men  increased  responsibilities  as  individ- 
uals and  in  men's  organizations,  a  real  voice  in  deter- 
mining what  shall  be  done  by  the  church  and  how, 
work  worth  doing  and  training  for  it,  and  apprecia- 
tion for  work  well  done. 

3.  Make    the    men's    department    a    worth-while 


150  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

concern.  Allow  it  to  name  a  definite  number  of 
members  of  the  church  board  or  governing  body  as 
suggested  in  the  next  chapter,  say  twenty  or  thirty 
per  cent.  Encourage  it  to  have  special  meetings  to 
discuss  church  management  and  policies  and  to  in- 
struct its  representatives  as  to  its  desires.  Give  it  a 
separate  room,  or  build  one,  if  possible. 

4.  Develop  a  strong  men's  class  (or  several 
classes),  organized  and  conducted  after  the  manner 
of  the  most  successful  adult  classes  for  which  many 
excellent  suggestions  are  available.  Let  it  be  entirely 
independent  of  the  school  in  its  management,  its 
opening  exercises,  etc.,  yet  meeting  with  it  occa- 
sionally. 

5.  Develop  a  series  of  strong  functional  commit- 
tees, including  social  fellowship,  "  work  for  young 
men  and  boys,"  social  service,  missions,  temperance 
and  moral  reform,  civic  and  state  affairs,  strangers 
and  membership,  speakers  for  neighbouring  mis- 
sions and  meetings  in  other  churches,  community  and 
district  visiting,  Sunday  evening  and  mid-week  service 
boosting,  ushering  at  class  and  department  meetings, 
publicity,  special  speakers,  recreation,  policy  and  effi- 
ciency, etc.,  but  not  too  many  at  a  time,  and  only 
as  workers  and  leaders  are  available  to  promise 
success. 

6.  Make  class  meetings  broadly  educational.  Es- 
tablish a  Forum  in  connection  with  them,  to  discuss 
practical  affairs  from  a  religious  angle.  Suppose  the 
weekly  session  lasts  an  hour  and  a  half— after  the 
first  fifteen  or  twenty-five  minutes  for  opening  exer- 


EFFICIENT  MEN'S  DEPARTMENT   151 

cises,  business,  etc.,  fifteen  minutes  would  be  given 
to  the  special  speaker,  visitor  or  local,  on  some 
theme  relating  to  social  progress,  civics,  missions, 
church  federation,  or  church  matters  in  general ;  fol- 
lowed by  fifteen  minutes  for  discussion:  using  the 
closing  half-hour  for  the  teaching  of  the  lesson. 

7.  Devote  one  meeting  a  month  to  discussion  of 
matters  "  for  the  good  of  the  church  and  the  depart- 
ment," have  an  annual  ladies*  night,  a  Father-^nd- 
Son  banquet,  and  a  Son-and-Father  athletic-field  day ; 
see  that  some  man  is  in  touch  helpfully  with  every 
young  man  or  boy  in  the  Sunday  School;  see  that 
the  members  keep  in  touch  with  ways  to  benefit  the 
schools,  the  boys  of  the  church  and  the  community, 
the  unemployed,  the  minister,  and  every  other  good 
cause;  let  them  take  a  Sunday  evening  service  each 
month,  etc. 

8.  Make  every  male  member  of  the  church  or 
school  who  reaches  eighteen  or  twenty  years  of  age 
a  member  of  the  men's  department,  with  a  vote ;  also 
every  other  man  who  signs  the  constitution  and  sub- 
scribes ten  cents  per  week  or  more  to  class  or  church 
purposes. 

9.  Study  especially  the  chapters  on  "  Enlisting  and 
Training  Workers,"  and  on  "  Committee  Efficiency,'* 
since  these  are  really  a  part  of  this  chapter. 

10.  Often,  it  is  unwise  to  organize  since  the  same 
ends  can  be  better  served  by  putting  all  men  on  church 
committees  and  by  having  an  occasional  men's 
supper. 


162     MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

How  TO  Begin 

Have  an  objective.  The  Presbyterian  Brotherhood 
Movement  Committee  says,  "  If  your  organization  is 
to  be  one  worth  while  it  will  not  be  enough  to  unite 
men  on  social  lines  only,  i.e.,  to  bring  them  together 
once  a  month  for  a  dinner  or  for  some  entertainment 
or  address.  We  must  develop  friendship  and  fellow- 
ship, and  dinners  and  entertainments  are  good  for 
that  purpose.  However,  if  you  are  going  to  have  a 
strong,  permanent  organization  it  will  be  necessary  to 
have  a  strong  and  compelling  objective,  to  organize 
on  the  basis  of  real  service  for  the  church,  the  com- 
munity and  the  kingdom." 

Remember  that  most  men  have  wrong  ideas  of  the 
Church  and  religion.  They  must  be  shown  that  the 
Church  is  modern  and  has  a  worthy  purpose  and 
program,  and  that  they  will  be  allowed  opportunity 
to  talk  about  and  to  do  things  worth  doing.  Let  the 
church  board  appoint  a  committee  to  work  out  plans 
for  a  really  adequate  organization.  Call  a  few  men, 
representative  of  all  types,  young  and  old,  rich  and 
poor,  to  a  conference,  preferably  at  a  free  supper,  to 
talk  matters  over.  Have  further  conferences  if 
necessary  to  perfect  a  plan.  Call  a  meeting  of  all 
the  men  of  the  church  at  the  Sunday-school  hour,  or 
at  a  banquet,  to  discuss  the  proposition  and  take  steps. 
Select  the  departmental  committee  chairmen  care- 
fully. Allow  men  to  choose  on  which  committee  they 
will  work  after  chairmen  are  named.  See  that  every- 
thing is  done  in  a  manly  way.    When  things  are  going, 


EFFICIENT  MEN'S  DEPARTMENT    153 

keep  your  promises.  Do  not  start  until  ready  to 
make  it  go  without  fail.  In  any  case  remember  that 
the  boys  of  today,  handled  rightly,  will  make  a  strong 
men's  church  for  tomorrow,  and  that  manly  pastors 
and  lay  leaders  are  essential  with  both  men  and  boys. 

While  most  men  do  not  like  to  talk  before  women, 
and  do  not  ordinarily  care  for  a  men's  church  social, 
most  men  will  come  with  their  wives  and  children  to 
a  good  church  supper  served  at  cost  with  social 
features.  Alternate  the  men's  supper  with  a  church 
supper  or  social  on  a  Monday  night  every  two  months. 
Better  still,  have  church  suppers  (see  next  chapter), 
making  special  effort  to  get  new  men  to  come  with 
their  wives  and  stay  to  hear  what  the  church  is  doing. 
Invite  men  to  come  with  their  sons  to  a  dinner. 

A  Chicago  Men's  Club  is  said  to  spend  over  $2,000 
per  year  on  advertising,  on  a  weekly  Thursday  night 
men's  meeting  which  is  addressed  by  prominent  civic 
and  commercial  men  with  audiences  ranging  from  200 
to  600,  and  on  free  dinners  and  suppers  for  its  com- 
mitteemen so  that  they  may  be  sure  to  do  business. 
About  100  men  make  perhaps  5,000  visits  each  year 
to  follow  up  the  members  and  prospects.  Of  course 
the  church  has  rapidly  filled  up  with  men  as  has  a 
Buffalo  church  where  the  Men's  Club  made  a  com- 
plete religious  census  of  the  whole  community,  made 
over  5,000  follow-up  visits  on  unchurched  men,  ar- 
ranged for  suppers  and  speakers,  worked  hard  for  the 
social  welfare  of  the  city  and  the  uplift  of  the  com- 
munity, opened  well-furnished  club  rooms  for  men 
and  boys,  etc. 


XII 

OFFICIAL  BOARD  ORGANIZATION  AND 
ADMINISTRATION 

EVERY  body  must  have  a  head  to  unify  all 
the  members  and  functions.  Christ  must  be 
the  spiritual  head  of  each  church,  yet  an 
earthly  head  is  as  essential  as  a  local  habitation  and 
a  name.  If  the  head  is  not  intelligent  and  active, 
the  body  will  usually  be  weak  and  its  work  of  little 
value,  just  as  in  individuals  with  low  brain  power. 

Official  leadership  in  church  and  state  implies  three 
primary  duties:  legislation,  execution  and  judicial 
decision.  The  official  head  of  a  church  must  take  (or 
lead  the  congregation  to  take)  authoritative  steps 
recognizing  those  duties  by  and  for  which  the  whole 
church  exists,  providing  that  the  ideals  and  plans  shall 
be  properly  realized  in  action,  co-ordinating  all  de- 
partmental and  committee  activities  with  one  another 
and  with  the  church,  and  correcting  all  improper  atti- 
tudes and  actions.  But  the  judicial  function,  in  the 
church  as  in  the  state,  becomes  less  important  as 
legislative  and  executive  duties  are  performed  with 
increasing  wisdom  and  efficiency  so  that  members 
and  departments  shall  clearly  understand  their  duties 
and  relations  and  work  loyally. 

The  two  keynotes  of  modern  government  are  effi- 
154 


OFFICIAL   BOARD   ORGANIZATION    155 

ciency  and  democracy.  Democracy,  which  implies 
and  depends  upon  intelligence  and  freedom,  is  a 
growth.  It  gets  into  action  more  slowly  than  autoc- 
racy but  in  the  end  it  makes  for  larger  efficiency. 
It  is  less  mechanical  and  more  enthusiastic  under 
discouragements.  The  Church  seeks  the  development 
of  its  members  through  service,  and  intelligent  serv- 
ice increases  as  an  intelligent  share  in  the  govern- 
ment is  exercised.  Democracy  does  not  mean  anarchy 
or  independency.  The  local  church  must  aim  at  edu- 
cation and  democracy  and  efficiency.  Its  efficiency 
and  perpetuity  depends  upon  a  strong  central  author- 
ity, constituted  and  controlled  by  and  for  and  of  the 
people. 

"  Where  no  counsel  is  the  people  fail,  but  in  the 
multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  safety,"  is  especially 
true  of  democracy.  Mere  pessimists  and  throwers 
of  water  are  not  counsellors.  To  "  be  sure  you  are 
right,  then  go  ahead,"  is  wise,  but  many  church  offi- 
cers and  boards  are  never  sure  they  are  right,  for 
they  never  want  to  go  ahead.  The  Christian  Church 
is  a  growing  institution  with  a  great  God,  which  looks 
to  vast  achievements  and  a  wonderful  goal  in  the 
future,  so  no  one  should  be  on  a  church  board  who 
lacks  vision,  courage,  personal  experience  of  God, 
and  loyalty  to  Christ  as  the  supreme  teacher  and 
officer  of  the  Church. 

I.   Problems  of  Organization 

Should  there  he  more  than  one  official  board  f  Dan- 
ger of  conflict  always  exists  where  co-ordinate  agen- 


156  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

cies  are.  Official  authority  must  be  exercised  by  a 
single  body.  In  the  New  Testament  Church,  the 
deacons  were  subordinate  to  the  authority  of  the 
apostles.  The  political  trend  is  away  from  the  bicam- 
eral legislative  system.  Such  conservatives  as  Elihu 
Root  plead  earnestly  with  the  recent  New  York  state 
constitutional  convention  to  substitute  a  single  legis- 
lative body  for  the  Senate  and  the  House ;  voicing  the 
desire  of  all  thoughtful  statesmen.  Modern  church 
policy  cannot  be  determined  by  the  archaic  double 
system  of  Europe  which  originated  in  the  caste 
spirit. 

The  intention  of  providing  a  body  with  no  doc- 
trinal authority,  with  which  they  could  deal — leaving 
doctrinal  matters  to  the  denominationally  designated 
spiritual  head  or  board — led  many  states  to  require  a 
separate  board  of  trustees,  and  the  question  of  their 
necessary  subordination  to  the  spiritual  board  is  often 
a  difficult  one. 

Sometimes  the  law  permits  the  spiritual  board  to 
incorporate  as  a  board  of  trustees,  which  should  be 
done,  if  legal,  by  having  the  one  board  keep  two  sets 
of  records.  Where  requirements  as  to  the  number  or 
method  of  election  of  trustees  makes  such  action 
impossible  or  undesirable,  a  church  should  transfer 
all  possible  duties  to  the  spiritual  head,  reducing 
those  of  trustees  to  the  lowest  possible  terms,  usually 
as  a  mere  holding  body  for  the  property.  Better  still, 
where  legal,  adopt  a  by-law  providing  that  only  mem- 
bers of  the  spiritual  board  may  be  eligible  for  nomi- 
nation as  trustees  so  that  only  spiritually  minded  men 


OFFICIAL   BOARD   ORGANIZATION    157 

can  be  chosen,  and  they  become  practically  a  sub- 
committee of  the  spiritual  head  to  which  they  report 
and  from  which  they  receive  instructions  even  while 
they  keep  separate  records. 

Where  a  separate  board  of  trustees  must  be  con- 
stituted, they  will  usually  forego  responsibility  for 
raising  the  budget  if  their  honour  is  maintained  by 
the  privilege  of  spending  it.  A  joint  Finance  com- 
mittee of  all  boards  and  departments  can  be  intrusted 
with  the  preparation  and  provision  of  the  budgets, 
securing  the  sanction  of  the  church  for  its  plans, 
while  the  trustees  manage  the  property  and,  if  neces- 
sary, pay  the  bills.  One  spiritual  duty  of  a  church 
head  is  the  education  of  the  members  as  to  the  scrip- 
tural principles  and  practices  regarding  the  steward- 
ship of  money,  and  this  duty  can  be  performed 
properly  only  when  such  head  determines  the  financial 
plans. 

Sometimes  a  subordinate  board  is  authorized  by  the 
official  board  as  a  sort  of  committee  for  the  care  of 
the  poor  and  for  community  service,  as  well  as  a 
training  school  for  church  leadership,  but  the  same 
ends  can  be  secured  as  well  or  better  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  committees  as  has  already  been  suggested. 

How  secure  proper  unity  in  the  ideals  and  plans  of 
the  different  departments  and  committees  and  hoards? 
Four  different  methods  are  acclaimed  as  satisfactory 
in  checking  up  the  whole  work  of  the  church. 

(a)  The  constitution  of  a  Church  Council  or  Con- 
sistory where  all  the  boards  meet  in  joint  session, 
regularly;  monthly,  or  at  least  quarterly.    A  whole 


158  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

evening  can  be  occupied  with  the  joint  session,  or  the 
boards  can  meet  separately  at  first,  meeting  together 
at  8.45  or  9.00  P.M. 

(b)  The  constitution  of  a  Pastor's  Cabinet  or 
Council,  meeting  as  is  desired,  usually  including  the 
president  of  each  department  and  sometimes  their 
secretaries,  with  the  chairmen  of  the  church  com- 
mittees. 

(c)  The  constitution  of  a  Joint  Official  Board  as  in 
Methodist  churches;  similar  to  the  Church  Council 
above  described,  except  that  each  society  or  depart- 
ment has  one  or  more  representatives. 

(d)  A  radical  reconstruction  of  the  church  organi- 
zation constituting  the  official  board  itself  in  a  new 
way.  If  denominational  laws  do  not  permit  this 
action  by  a  local  church,  certain  elements  of  the 
plan  can  be  adopted;  or  the  official  board  can  take 
action  promising  large  consideration,  if  not  constant 
approval,  to  all  deliberations  or  decisions  of  such  an 
unofficial  board.  The  plan  is  to  constitute  the  church 
legislative  body  of  three  elements;  a  small  group 
elected  by  the  church  as  a  whole,  at  least  as  many 
more  elected  or  nominated  by  the  departments,  and 
the  chairmen  of  all  functional  church  committees.  A 
church  of  500  members  would  have,  say,  twelve  offi- 
cers elected  by  the  congregation,  eighteen  elected  by 
the  men's,  women's  and  church  school  departments — 
each  naming  six — making  a  central  board  or  church 
legislature  of  thirty,  with  the  addition  as  full  voting 
members  of  all  church  committee  chairmen  who  are 
not  of  the  thirty  thus  elected.    Certainly  every  mem- 


OFFICIAL   BOARD   ORGANIZATION    159 

ber  of  the  Cabinet  should  be  represented  at  legislative 
sessions. 

By  giving  enlarged  power  to  the  committees  named 
as  suggested  in  the  previous  chapter,  the  board  could 
leave  details  to  the  departments  and  committees  and 
to  intercommittee  and  interdepartment  conferences, 
the  church  doing  its  real  work  through  committees 
as  Congress  does.  The  administration  of  the  com- 
munion, the  reception  of  new  members  and  other 
duties  which  the  constitution  specifically  commits  to 
congregationally  elected  men,  could  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  twelve  so  chosen. 

This  plan  has  all  the  advantages  of  the  preceding 
plans,  and  dignifies  the  departments  so  as  to  give 
them  greater  vitality  and  increase  the  spirit  of  democ- 
racy. Undoubtedly  this  plan  will  be  rapidly  intro- 
duced as  its  benefits  are  experienced,  modified  to 
suit  local  conditions. 

What  should  be  the  size  of  the  Official  Boards  The 
preceding  paragraphs  will  be  suggestive.  The  official 
board  should  be  neil:her  so  small  as  inadequately  to 
represent  the  wisdom  of  the  church  nor  so  large  as 
to  be  unwieldy.  The  church  of  lOO  members  would 
have  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  members,  while  the 
church  of  2,000  members  would  have  only  fifty.  In 
the  small  church,  more  definite  supervision  of  all 
interests  would  be  exercised.  The  larger  churches 
would  leave  details  largely  to  the  committees,  author- 
izing them  with  large  authority  and  approving  their 
reports  with  little  discussion. 

What  relation  should  the  pastor  bear  to  the  boards 


160  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  committees  f  He  should  be  ex-officio  a  member 
of  all,  even  those  on  finance.  He  needs  to  know  all 
that  is  being  done,  as  the  President  knows  the  work 
and  plans  of  each  cabinet  ofBcer.  He  is  concerned 
with  the  finance  committee,  not  in  order  to  see  that 
his  salary  will  be  paid,  for  it  will  be,  of  course,  but 
that  spiritual  ideals  and  scriptural  methods  shall 
govern  and  that  there  be  a  surplus  to  meet  publicity, 
educational  and  other  expenses. 

What  should  be  the  period  of  service  of  church 
and  departmental  officers?  The  problem  is  to  balance 
stability  and  permanency  with  rotation  and  vitality. 
This  is  secured  under  the  plan  suggested  on  the  pre- 
ceding page.  The  eighteen  representatives  of  de- 
partments and  the  six  or  more  committee  chairmen 
would  be  subject  to  change  each  year,  but  probably 
two-thirds  would  remain  and  give  ample  stability. 
The  twelve  elected  by  the  congregation  might  well  be 
chosen  for  three-year  terms,  one-third  to  expire 
annually.  Where  the  system  prevails  either  of  elec- 
tion for  life  or  of  always  re-electing  old  members, 
large  churches  especially  should  pass  a  law  that  an 
officer  could  be  elected  to  succeed  himself  only  once, 
but  would  again  be  eligible  after  a  year  out  of  that 
office. 

What  are  the  arguments  against  a  long,  or  life, 
term?  The  same  as  the  arguments  against  life  serv- 
ice for  kings  and  senators,  which  no  American  has 
ever  proposed.  Legislators  chosen  for  life  are  liable 
to  conversion  to  the  idea  of  the  divine  right  of  the 
ruler  rather  than  of  the  ruled.    A  legislator  should 


OFFICIAL   BOARD  ORGANIZATION    161 

never  have  more  than  a  five-  or  six-year  term. 
Democracy  will  perish  with  disuse.  For  the  sake  of 
insuring  their  intelligent  loyalty  voters  should,  by 
the  recurrence  of  important  elections,  be  compelled  to 
give  careful  consideration  to  the  ideals  and  policies 
concerned.  In  a  Pennsylvania  church  where  the 
life  system  existed  with  only  six  elders  for  i,ooo 
members,  I  suggested  allowing  them  to  serve  for 
life  as  elected  while  choosing  twelve  new  elders 
on  the  rotary  system,  a  plan  which  obviated  all 
objection. 

What  if  a  small  church  has  few  fit  for  oMcef 
Often  an  unfit  or  unpromising  Peter  needs  merely 
responsibility  and  vision  to  make  him  an  invaluable 
aide.  Many  a  layman  is  a  diamond  church  worker 
in  the  rough,  awaiting  the  expert  polisher.  Larger 
use  should  be  made  of  women  and  young  men.  The 
one-year  ineligibility  clause  can  be  made  to  apply  only 
once,  at  the  close  of  the  first  or  second  term,  to  give 
the  opportunity  of  eliminating,  withouti  invidious 
reflection,  such  as  prove  unworthy. 

How  should  nominations  be  made?  If  made  in 
open  meeting,  there  is  danger  of  unfit  nominations. 
Nomination  by  a  board  is  apt  to  be  regarded  as  a 
"  slate,"  receiving  but  a  perfunctory  vote  and  reduc- 
ing the  interest  of  the  voters.  Usually  a  nominating 
committee  can  be  appointed  in  advance,  or  a  prelimi- 
nary nominating  ballot  or  direct  primary  can  be  held. 
The  pastor  should  be  a  member  of  the  nominating 
committee. 

Should  non-members  ever  be  chosen  officers?    In 


162  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

the  small  field,  this  may  be  essential,  especially  if  they 
be  members  of  other  churches  not  locally  represented. 
But  non-Christians,  and  unfaithful  members,  if  they 
must  be  given  place,  should  have  mere  honorary  posi- 
tions, being  seldom  made  responsible  save  for  the 
holding  of  property,  or  as  members  of  building  or 
publicity  committees  where  spirituality  is  not  so 
fundamental. 

II.   Efficient  Administration 

Every  official  board  should  have  an  executive  com- 
mittee to  prepare  a  docket  for  each  meeting,  to  see 
that  all  committees  are  prepared  to  report,  and  to 
meet  with  the  committee  chairmen  and  department 
heads  to  help  formulate  their  plans  and  develop  their 
work,  thus  saving  much  time  at  the  official  meetings. 
This  executive  committee  should  include  the  pastor 
and  at  least  two  men  and  one  woman  in  the  small 
church.  In  a  large  church,  it  will  include  all  the 
pastors  and  such  others  as  are  desired.  It  should 
meet  weekly. 

Where  it  is  difficult  to  secure  adequate  attendance 
of  the  members  of  a  board  or  committee,  the  sec- 
retary, or  some  specified  member,  should  be  respon- 
sible for  telephoning  or  sending  a  card  to  each 
member  on  the  day  of,  or  the  day  before,  each  meet- 
ing, calling  their  attention  to  the  business.  Strict 
attention  to  the  work  in  hand  is  a  great  stimulus  to 
attendance.  In  the  large  church  it  is  common  to  take 
lunch  or  supper  together  at  a  restaurant.  Sometimes 
meetings  can  be  held  at  the  close  of  a  morning  or 


OFFICIAL   BOARD   ORGANIZATION    163 

vesper  service,  or  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  with  a 
much  larger  attendance. 

An  invaluable  plan  is  that  of  arranging  for  a 
regular  supper  at  the  church  on  prayer-meeting  night, 
semi-monthly  or  monthly,  for  all  boards  and  commit- 
tees, at  cost  or  free.  All  meeting  on  the  same  night, 
the  date  is  more  easily  remembered  and  each  agency 
is  stimulated  to  make  the  best  possible  showing.  At 
the  supper,  or  immediately  after,  each  goes  to  its  own 
table,  or  room,  and  has  a  full  hour  for  the  trans- 
action of  business  before  the  mid-week  service.  If 
not  completed,  further  business  can  be  done  after 
the  service.  This  plan  builds  up  the  mid-week  meeting 
since  the  workers  nearly  all  assemble.  In  many  city 
churches,  such  business  sessions  are  held  every  week 
and  supper  for  fifteen  or  twenty  cents  is  provided 
for  all  who  will  come.  Sometimes  twenty  per  cent 
of  the  church  members  are  at  the  supper  and  the 
business  meetings,  and  at  the  Bible,  teacher,  and  mis- 
sionary classes  which  follow.  A  marvellous  increase 
in  the  administrative  efficiency  of  every  church  using 
the  plan  is  reported,  as  well  as  a  larger  spirit  of 
unity,  greater  sociability,  and  large  educational  bene- 
fits. The  church  can  well  afford  to  furnish  an  occa- 
sional supper  free  to  secure  business  efficiency. 

Even  more  valuable  is  the  plan  of  a  monthly 
"  Church  Business  and  Prayer "  mid-week  service, 
usually  but  not  always  following  such  a  supper  and 
business  sessions,  and  corresponding  somewhat  to 
the  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  missions  or  to  the 
Methodist "  Church  Conference."    The  whole  evening 


164  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

is  devoted  to  the  reading  of  brief  reports,  from  the 
various  departments,  boards  and  committees,  of  work 
done  since  the  last  report  and  of  future  plans.  To 
insure  brevity,  reports  should  be  required  to  be  in 
writing.  The  whole  church  becomes  informed  and 
interested  in  the  work  of  the  church  as  would  never 
be  possible  otherwise.  Every  committee  can  know 
what  all  other  committees  are  doing.  Specialization 
is  balanced  with  breadth  of  outlook.  Every  agency 
is  put  on  its  mettle  to  emulate  the  others  in  the  effi- 
ciency of  its  work.  Why  should  not  each  church  have 
a  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  its  work?  One 
church  which  averaged  only  forty  at  other  mid-week 
meetings  reports  an  average  of  200  at  six  such  meet- 
ings, nearly  half  being  men.  People  can  be  interested 
in  the  actual  work  of  their  church. 

Other  valuable  features  are  the  opportunities  for 
questions  or  pointed  expressions  of  opinion  at  the 
close  of  each  report,  the  democratic  participation  of 
so  many  people,  the  vastly  increased  attendance,  and 
the  offering  of  several  brief  prayers  as  interludes 
between  reports, — asking  women  to  lead  in  prayer 
for  the  work  of  the  men's  department  and  men  to 
pray  for  the  women's  and  boys'  departments,  etc. 
Every  department  gains  new  members  and  workers 
under  such  a  plan,  especially  the  classes  and  working 
forces  of  the  church  school,  the  committees  on  pas- 
toral visitation  and  oversight,  etc. 

Possible  variations  are, — using  a  part  of  each 
weekly  service  for  some  reports;  holding  such  meet- 
ings but  four  or  six  times  a  year ;  assigning  an  entire 


OFFICIAL   BOARD   ORGANIZATION    165 

evening  to  one  committee  or  department  or  board; 
having  only  a  part  of  the  agencies  report  each  month 
and  some  only  quarterly;  having  a  social  at  the 
close  with  light  refreshments  instead  of  the  supper 
at  the  beginning;  having  the  supper  furnished  by  a 
caterer;  having  a  stereopticon  lecture  on  missions 
at  the  beginning  to  insure  promptness  and  increased 
interest,  etc. 

The  supper  is  often  furnished  by  the  church  free 
to  the  workers.  It  is  usually  provided  by  the  ladies, 
divided  into  sections  serving  in  turn.  The  meals  are 
of  the  simplest,  the  expense  being  paid  from  the 
church  treasury  or  by  the  nominal  charge  without 
seeking  to  make  any  profit.  In  the  latter  case,  if  the 
attendance  falls  below  the  estimate  and  causes  loss 
one  month,  it  is  made  up  the  following  month. 
Usually  extra  supplies  of  canned  materials  are  in 
reserve  for  an  overflow.  Sometimes  an  annual  ticket 
is  sold  at  $2  or  $3  for  twelve  suppers.  In  one 
church,  departmental  cabinets  meet  the  first  Wednes- 
day evening  of  each  month  for  supper,  departmental 
committees  the  next  Wednesday,  and  the  general  sup- 
per comes  the  third  week. 

Pastors  and  officers  should  be  as  punctual  at 
meetings  as  a  grocery  clerk  is  expected  to  be  at  the 
store.  Ideas  should  be  secured  and  interest  aroused 
by  visits,  made  to,  and  received  from,  other  boards. 

Care  must  be  constantly  exercised  lest  routine  be- 
come so  dead  and  dry  as  to  lose  power.  Routine 
meetings  should  always  be  lifted  above  the. common- 
place at  the  opening  and  at  the  close  so  that  large 


166  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  fresh  and  clear  views  of  the  progress  of  the 
Kingdom  will  be  possible.  An  encouraging  mis- 
sionary incident,  a  stimulating  instance  of  life  trans- 
formation in  the  Sunday  School,  references  to  some 
who  once  were  unpromising  but  have  become  towers 
of  strength  for  good  in  some  sphere,  stories  of  suc- 
cess in  other  churches,  and  earnest  prayer — these  will 
not  take  the  place  of  careful  business-like  planning 
but  they  will  add  to  the  interest  and  the  efficiency. 


XIII 
SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK 

THE  head  of  a  factory  employing  20,000  men 
declares,  "No  greater  question  confronts  us 
than  the  man  question,  which  assumes  two 
forms :  first,  to  secure  an  adequate  force  of  workers ; 
and  second,  to  insure  their  highest  resultfulness." 
The  pressure  of  these  two  questions  is  nowhere  more 
serious  than  in  the  Church. 

When  churches  were  small,  without  Sunday 
Schools  or  other  organizations,  with  few  changes  in 
membership  and  little  competition,  the  minister  who 
had  very  simple  tasks  was  able  to  do  most  of  the 
work  alone,  just  as  could  storekeepers  and  black- 
smiths. But  vastly  enlarged  modern  churches,  with 
great  problems  to  solve  in  reaching  and  holding  the 
people,  with  many  new  organizations  and  tasks,  de- 
mand greatly  increased  forces  developed  and  trained 
and  handled  with  greatly  increased  skill,  just  as  do 
modern  department  stores  and  steel  corporations. 

Every  minister  should  be  enthusiastic  and  humble 
enough  to  do  anything  which  needs  to  be  done,  but 
no  efficient  pastor  can  do  half  the  work  that  needs 
attention  today,  even  in  the  small  church.  Successful 
bankers,  generals  and  merchants  do  not  spend  time 
on  detail.  They  employ  clerks  and  errand  boys  and 
167 


168  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

lieutenants.  Only  a  rare  pastoral  genius  can  attend 
to  his  necessary  administrative  and  sermon  duties 
when  he  spends  half  or  three-fourths  of  his  time 
on  what  others  could  do.  Pulpit  disaster  and  church 
bankruptcy  often  occur  when  a  preacher  tries  to  do 
what  district,  social,  finance,  missionary  and  other 
committees  should  do. 

The  calamity  of  "  spiritual  idlers  "  is  multiplied 
because  much  of  even  the  simple  church  work  must 
remain  undone.  Inactive  church  members  lose  their 
healthful  appetites  and  respond  only  to  sensational 
stories  and  statements,  to  special  music  and  other 
spiritual  condiments  and  sugar-coated  pills,  just  as 
sedentary  folks  lose  their  appetites  for  bread  and 
meat  and  other  nourishing  physical  food.  A  diet  of 
strong  spiritual  meat  without  exercise  brings  spiritual 
dyspepsia  and  a  tendency  to  criticise  and  condemn 
unfairly,  just  as  indigestion  makes  for  low  physical 
vitality  and  mental  unreasonableness. 

An  inactive  church  member  cannot  attain  to  an 
adequate  measure  of  growth  and  knowledge,  for  only 
*'he  that  willeth  to  do  his  will  shall  know."  As 
every  lesson  in  chemistry  or  music  includes  concrete 
examples,  so  definite  tasks  must  be  set  for  church 
members  in  connection  with  each  spiritual  lesson  in 
order  that  the  principle  may  be  truly  mastered  and  the 
disciple  prepared  to  receive  more  difficult  principles. 
Knowledge  is  not  knowledge  but  theory  until  it  is 
applied  in  a  practical  way. 

Most  church  members  that  retire  to  the  "  inactive  " 
list,"  or  walk  out  by  the  back  door  to  the  suspended 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    169 

roll,  would  have  remained  enthusiastic  Christians  and 
useful  Soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ  had  they  been  given 
due  exercise  according  to  the  laws  of  spiritual  hygiene 
at  useful  tasks  suited  to  their  spiritual  muscle  and 
needs  as  soon  as  they  joined,  and  regularly. 
In  many  a  church  it  is  true  that 

Nobody  works  but  the  preacher, 
Though  he  works  hard  all  right, 

We  pay  him  starvation  wages, 
With  no  rest  day  nor  night. 

He  runs  the  clubs  and  finances, 

Societies,  meetings  galore, 
Tends  to  letters,  calls  and  sermons, 

No  others  work  any  more. 

The  Church  of  Christ  should  be  the  greatest  force 
in  the  world.  Every  member  is  called  by  his  Lord 
to  be  a  good  soldier  in  the  titanic  conflict  with  the 
forces  of  evil,  in  behalf  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
and  the  comm.on  good  of  humanity.  If  the  tremen- 
dous and  tyrannical  sin-forces  of  the  earth,  individual 
and  social,  are  to  be  uncovered  and  soon  defeated ; — 
if  they  are  to  be  discredited  until  even  their  blinded 
subjects  are  made  to  realize  their  hatefulness,  to 
rebel  and  aid  in  their  dethronement  and  in  enthroning 
peace  and  good-will,  to  help  in  establishing  the  Chris- 
tian empire  of  brotherly  love  and  morality  and  in 
hastening  that  "new  earth  in  which  dwelleth  right- 
eousness " ; — shirkers  cannot  be  tolerated. 

If  loyalty  in  national  struggles  requires  all  citizens 
to  do  their  bit ; — if  the  greatest  military  successes  are 


170  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

possible  only  when  every  man,  woman  and  child  be- 
comes a  soldier  on  the  fighting  line,  in  the  munition 
works,  as  food  producer  or  in  some  other  useful 
capacity,  and  if  every  idler  is  a  traitor  who  produces 
nothing  yet  asks  that  his  needs  be  met  out  of  supplies 
and  by  efforts  needed  elsewhere; — surely  Christian 
loyalty  can  ask  nothing  less. 

The  Church  and  Its  Slackers 

God  expects  every  church  to  turn  its  spiritual  idlers 
into  assets,  but  not  one  in  ten  has  yet  realized  the 
seriousness  of  its  responsibility  for  mobilizing  every 
member  for  active  service,  training  and  assigning  all 
to  suitable  tasks  and  conserving  their  work  by  wise 
activities.  The  Kingdom  value  of  the  average  church 
will  be  increased  from  two-  to  ten-fold  when  pastor 
and  officers  give  as  zealous  study  and  constant  atten- 
tion to  these  interests  as  do  military  and  industrial 
masters. 

A  host  of  spiritual  diseases  constantly  afflict 
churches  and  their  idlers,  from  church  quarrels  and 
anaemia  to  spiritually  adipose  sermon-tasters  and 
moral  sluggards.  Instead  of  becoming  spiritual 
athletes  their  members  succumb  to  the  slightest  temp- 
tations, become  hypochondriac  seekers  after  patent 
spiritual  panaceas  such  as  Christian  Science,  or  bury 
their  letters  in  their  trunks  as  symbols  of  their 
spiritual  decease,  when  they  move  elsewhere.  Every 
minister  who  inveighs  against  the  indifference  of  his 
people  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the  folly  of  trying 
to  develop  healthy  Christian  life  and  loyalty  by  lee- 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    171 

turing  members  while  excusing  them  from  definite 
service. 

No  parent  can  work,  or  take  exercise,  for  his  chil- 
dren, so  as  to  excuse  them  from  the  necessity  of  use- 
ful and  healthful  living.  So  ministers  and  church 
officers  who  try  to  relieve  lazy  members  of  the  reli- 
gious services  they  should  render  are  making  religious 
"  ne'er-do-wells  "  of  those  whom  they  seek  to  relieve, 
while  neglecting  their  own  true  duties. 

The  Possibilities 

Ninety  per  cent  of  the  idlers  in  the  average  church 
can  be  enlisted  for  useful  service.  The  almost  uni- 
versal complaint  is  that  "  our  people  will  not  work. 
It  is  impossible  to  arouse  any  enthusiasm,  or  secure 
any  sacrificial  spirit  in  behalf  of  the  great  work  to  be 
done."  This  proves  only  that  we  have  been  woefully 
inefficient  in  our  past  eflforts. 

Take  a  church  of  500  members  whose  pastor  as- 
serted, "  They  are  the  hardest  bunch  I  ever  had  to 
deal  with.  I  could  not  arouse  ten  per  cent  to  do  any- 
thing but  go  to  meetings,  and  with  five  or  six  excep- 
tions, these  worked  only  for  departments  and  ignored 
the  work  of  the  church  in  spite  of  all  my  criticisms." 
His  successor  tells  a  different  story.  Though  a  less 
talented  preacher  he  turned  the  church  from  a  tobog- 
gan slide  into  a  mighty  mountain-conquering  force,  and 
had  over  250  people  working  joyously  and  effectively 
within  three  years.  Instead  of  knocking  the  societies, 
he  praised  their  zeal  and  tactfully  co-ordinated  their 
work  so  that  service  in  them  always  aided  the  church, 


172  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

and  he  studied  church  management  as  carefully  as 
sermon  preparation.  His  membership  has  increased 
over  80  per  cent  and  his  attendance  over  100  per 
cent. 

Tact,  common  sense,  sincerity  and  a  measure  of 
personal  magnetism  are  essential  to  the  largest  re- 
sults, but  remarkable  spiritual  and  material  achieve- 
ments in  this  direction  are  possible  to  any  one  who 
will  study  the  principles  of  scientific  management  as 
practised  in  successful  factories  and  armies  and  other 
institutions,  and  apply  them  to  church  conditions. 
From  a  wide  experience  inducing  college  boys  to 
become  book-agents  which  they  did  not  want,  and 
had  emphatically  refused  to  do,  and  of  training  them 
to  work  with  success ;  and  from  a  still  wider  experi- 
ence with  the  enlistment  and  training  of  church  work- 
ers, the  following  principles  appear  to  be  fundamental. 

How  TO  Enlist  Church  Slackers 

Overcome  indifference  by  giving  a  more  adequate 
understanding  of  the  supremacy  and  glory  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Church.  If  salesmen  and  soldiers, 
who  are  paid,  are  hard  to  enlist,  and  will  do  their  best 
only  when  enthusiastic  for  their  cause,  how  shall  a 
church  appeal  secure  adequate  unpaid  response  while 
not  one  member  in  fifty  has  a  worthy  appreciation  of 
the  importance  o^  the  cause  and  when  the  concep- 
tions of  the  Christian  enterprise  held  by  most  church 
officers  are  so  pitifully  meager? 

Even  yet,  most  folks  think  of  religion  as  having 
no  purpose  or  meaning  save  for  the  world  to  come. 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    173 

God  is  a  petty  being  who  helps  women  and  children 
but  either  does  not  care,  or  has  not  the  wisdom  and 
power  to  plan,  for  the  management  of  nations  or  of 
a  world.  The  Church  is  a  matter  of  vague  and  trivial 
sectarian  distinctions,  lacking  heroic  ambitions  or 
plans  or  leaders,  supposed  to  have  done  nothing  for 
world  advancement  in  the  past,  and  thought  to  be 
now  on  the  down  grade.  Pessimism  paralyzes  enthu- 
siasm, and  lamentations  prevent  enlistments.  We 
have  few  sermons  on  great  themes,  exulting  in  the 
superhuman  evangelistic  and  missionary  and  social 
victories  of  our  religion  in  past  centuries,  or  of  the 
past  one  hundred  years  in  America  and  in  all  lands 
and  human  interests. 

Before  trying  to  enlist  workers,  enlarge  their  vision 
,  and  arouse  their  enthusiasm  by  an  inspiring  sermon 
\  series.     Enthusiastically  present  the  infinite  purpose 
':  of  Christ  for  the  Church  and  for  the  redemption  of  all 
men  and  of  all  of  man,  and  review  the  miraculous 
victories  and  superb  heroes  of  the  Cross.     The  fol- 
lowing courses  have  been  found  exceedingly  helpful. 
I.    The  achievements  of  the  Church  of  the  past 
and  her  ideals  for  tomorrow  in  such  specific  fields  as 
(a)  Education  and  Science,  (b)  Moral  Righteousness, 
(c)    Freedom   and    Democracy,    (d)    Political   and 
Social  Reforms    (slaver}'',  intemperance,  etc.),    (e) 
Mercy    and    Philanthropy,    (f)    World    Peace    and 
Brotherhood,   (g)   Economic  Justice  and  Efficiency, 
etc.* 

♦See  Brace's  "Gesta    Christi,"  Dorchester's  "Christian 
Progress,"  Gulick's  "The  Growth  of  the  Kingdom,"  etc. 


174  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

2.  Missionary  and  other  successes  of  the  past  by 
ages,  viz.:  (a)  Apostolic,  (b)  Pre-Constantine,  (c) 
Mediaeval,  (d)  Reformation,  (e)  Eighteenth-Century 
England,  (f)  Nineteenth-Century  America,  (g)  Mod- 
ern Mission  Fields,  etc. 

3.  Christian  victories  and  achievements, — ^mission- 
ary, evangelistic,  social,  etc., — in  America,  by  epochs 
or  by  subjects. 

4.  The  victories  of  the  past  generation,  and  the 
ideals  for  tomorrow,  of  the  Church  of  Christ  through- 
out the  world. 

5.  The  past  progress  and  present  possibilities  of 
the  local  church. 

Challenge  to  action  by  outlining  the  tasks,  as  recruit- 
ing agents  describe  the  opportunities  of  the  marines, 
artillery,  etc.  Preach  on  the  ideals  and  program  and 
methods  of  the  local  church  as  to  (a)  Evangelism, 
(b)  Education,  (c)  Social  Service,  (d)  Increase  of 
Membership  and  Attendance,  etc. 

Many  members  feel  that  most  church  work  is  not 
important.  Show  how  each  task  is  worth  doing,  that 
it  vitally  affects  the  lives  of  individuals  and  the  wel- 
fare of  the  church  and  the  community.  Show  that 
every  individual  is  the  ancestor  of  many  generations, 
spiritually  and  physically,  and  influences  many  others ; 
that  all  departmental  or  committee  tasks  affect  many 
interests,  etc. 

Prepare  an  ''Opportunity  Book"  (send  ten  cents 
for  that  of  the  Fourth  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Chicago),  or  folder  listing  and  explaining  all  the 
forms  of  service  offered  in  or  by  the  church  and  its 


>o« 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK   175 

various  departments,  with  a  blank  to  return  indicating 
those  in  which  the  signer  is  interested.  Show  the 
wide  range  for  specialization. 

Does  your  church  lack  opportunities  for  useful 
service?  Start  a  needed  mission  or  settlement.  Ar- 
range with  a  downtown  church  which  lacks  workers 
and  teachers  to  send  a  band  from  your  fortunate 
suburb.  One  St.  Louis  church  sends  about  a  hundred 
workers  each  week,  including  some  of  its  best,  to 
downtown  churches  which  lack  workers,  and  to  social 
settlements.  ^.,9^^^^ 

Opportunities  can  be  classified  by  ages  and  sexes 
as :  For  men : — teach  a  boys'  class,  introduce  strangers 
after  service,  visit  for  Bible  Class  Members,  do  per- 
sonal evangelistic  work,  lead  or  aid  Boy  Scouts  or 
similar  organizations,  join  the  ushers'  association, 
teach  English  to  foreigners,  visit  the  sick,  lead  a 
boys'  ball  team,  sing  in  the  choir,  help  in  orchestra 
or  glee  club,  serve  as  Big  Brother  for  an  orphan  or 
a  Juvenile  Court  boy,  aid  in  visitation  or  finance  cam- 
paign, speak  in  other  churches  on  certain  themes, 
start  a  family  altar,  join  a  prayer  league,  teach  in  a 
social  settlement,  superintend  or  teach  in  a  mission 
school,  encourage  boys  by  a  visit  to  their  class  or 
club,  etc. 

Opportunites  can  be  classified  by  departments,  list- 
ing the  committes  and  activities  of  each. 

Opportunities  can  be  classified  by  functions;  edu- 
cational, publicity,  etc.  For  example :  Social  Service ; 
assist  the  unemployed,  aid  temperance  or  law  enforce- 
ment campaign,  do  friendly  visiting  for  Associated 


176  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Charities,  give  free  piano  or  violin  or  drawing  les- 
sons to  poor  children,  help  poor  mothers  with  sewing 
or  ironing  or  care  of  babies,  do  volunteer  nursing, 
serve  on  sanitary  police,  organize  or  help  at  social 
settlement  or  in  Sunday  School  with  dramatic  or 
musical  or  corn  or  embroidering  or  potato  or  hiking 
or  other  clubs,  open  one's  home  for  socials  and  games 
for  boys  or  young  men  or  Sunday-school  classes,  take 
shut-ins  for  auto  rides,  entertain  children  from  city 
slums,  employ  discharged  prisoners,  etc. 

Opportunities  can  be  classified  in  other  ways  as: 
Serving  the  pastor  by  writing  letters  and  folding 
circulars,  visiting  or  addressing  envelopes,  keeping  up 
the  card  index  or  doing  other  office  work ;  helping  the 
church  treasurer  keep  books  and  send  out  quarterly 
statements;  serving  on  a  church  or  departmental 
telephone  squad  to  help  increase  attendance  at  special 
services ;  helping  with  monthly  mid-week  church  sup- 
pers, making  community  social  or  religious  census, 
leaving  a  calendar  or  door-knob  hanger  or  blotter  at 
every  home  in  a  certain  district  each  Saturday  or 
each  month,  etc. 

Have  an  occasional  workers'  enlistment  campaign, 
when,  after  a  series  of  sermons  on  the  greatness  of 
the  Church  and  its  goals  with  an  explanation  of 
the  work  to  be  done, — with  an  *'  opportunity  book  " 
if  possible, — cards  are  mailed  out  or  handed  out  at  a 
service  and  immediate  opportunity  given  to  check  up 
and  sign  them.  Sometimes  signatures  are  secured  by 
an  every-member  canvass.  They  should  be  followed 
up  as  thoroughly  as  a  finance  canvass,  till  every  one  is 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    177 

interested  and  enlisted.  The  Meigs  Co.  of  Indian- 
apolis publishes  a  "  White  Gift  Service  "  which  has 
been  a  great  aid  to  many  churches.  An  enlistment 
day  will  be  most  successful  after  the  "  Loyalty " 
campaign  described  on  the  next  pages. 

Draft  those  capable  folks  who  do  not  promptly 
sign  enlistment  cards.  Educated  people,  even  when 
deeply  affected,  seldom  respond  in  a  public  revival  but 
yield  readily  to  personal  approach,  so  the  most  valu- 
able worker  often  ignores  a  general  appeal  to  volun- 
teer, but  can  be  reached  successfully  by  a  wise  note 
or  personal  interview  to  say  *'thou  art  the  man,"  and 
to  set  before  him  a  special  work  which  he  sees  to  be 
worth  doing  and  can  do  with  reasons  why  he  should 
undertake  it.  Put  on  him  the  burden  of  proof  as  to 
why  he  should  not.    Ask  him  to  pray  about  it. 

Designate  an  ''  Employment "  or  "  Efficiency  Com- 
mittee "  responsible  for  taking  stock  of  the  workers' 
talents,  the  work  to  be  done  and  other  factors  of  im- 
portance, and  to  assign  each  worker  to  specific  tasks. 
In  a  workers'  enlistment  campaign,  such  committee 
may  suggest  in  advance  to  each  person  the  tasks  for 
which  it  is  specially  desired  that  they  shall  enlist,  with 
complimentary  reasons.  It  will  reassign  workers  if 
they  grow  weary  of  the  first  assignments,  or  are  fitted 
or  needed  for  other  special  fields. 

Enlist  even  unpromising  workers  for  simple  tasks. 
Many  have  become  millionaires  because  they  attained 
efficiency  in  reducing  silver  or  other  ores  of  such  low 
grade  that  others  scorned  them,  and  many  a  church 
leader  has  attained  great  success  by  skill  in  utilizing 


178  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

members  with  low-grade  abilities.  Many  workers 
doing  each  a  little  can  accomplish  as  much  under 
competent  leadership  as  a  few  workers  of  large 
talents,  just  as  the  great  bulk  of  the  Mississippi  fall- 
ing a  few  feet  at  Keokuk  is  as  valuable  a  power  source 
as  a  smaller  volume  of  water  falling  hundreds  of  feet 
on  a  Belton  wheel.  The  wise  use  of  even  an  hour 
or  two  a  week  or  month  will  develop  unexpectedly 
many  a  valuable  worker.  "  Where  your  treasure  is 
there  will  your  heart  be  also,"  and  millionaires  or 
workingmen  who  have  invested  time  and  enthusiasm 
which  they  consider  valuable,  whether  they  accom- 
plish much  or  not,  will  retain  a  growing  interest  in 
the  church  and  can  be  led  to  invest  more  and  more 
money  and  other  values  in  order  to  avoid  the  loss 
of  their  initial  investments. 

Democracy  demands  that  all  shall  have  place  ac- 
cording to  their  powers,  in  the  work  of  a  church  as  in 
its  treasury.  For  a  social  visitation  in  a  city  church, 
two  country  lads  volunteered  whose  visits  might  have 
done  harm  in  most  places,  but  the  committee  assigned 
them  for  visits  to  shut-in  saints  who,  being  told  in 
advance,  found  great  joy  in  being  helpful  to  the  boys 
while  the  young  men's  loyalty  was  enlarged  by  feeling 
that  they  had  a  place  to  serve  with  honour. 

Give  every  child  suitable  work  to  do.  Catch  and 
train  them  young.  If  shown  how,  they  can  bring 
their  friends  to  their  classes  and  interest  their  parents 
in  the  Sunday  School  and  the  church,  can  distribute 
advertising  matter  at  the  homes  on  Saturday  night 
or  pull  weeds  from  the  church  lawn,  can  be  sanitary 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    179 

scouts,  can  watch  babies  for  poor  mothers,  can  play 
in  the  orchestra  or  sing  in  the  Christmas  Eve  Carol 
Club,  can  make  a  few  pennies  for  missions  by  raising 
potatoes  or  can  bring  flowers  for  the  school  and  the 
sick,  can  distribute  hymn  books,  etc.,  before  the  school 
opens  or  serve  occasionally  as  ushers  in  church  or 
school,  can  fold  circulars  or  run  errands  for  the  min- 
ister during  the  week  or  serve  as  pages  during  a 
service,  can  be  officers  or  committeemen  of  classes  or 
societies  or  in  a  '*  Children's  Church,"  etc. 

Training  for  service  is  as  important  for  the  child  as 
training  in  principles.  His  interest  in  religion  and 
the  church  is  deepened  and  he  is  unconsciously  fitted 
for  church  leadership  tomorrow.  Churchmen  should 
meditate  upon  the  words  of  a  great  employer,  "  It  is 
cheaper  to  experiment  with  shop  boys  than  with 
managers.  If  you  employ  the  right  kind  and  train 
them  they  will  grow,  while  working,  into  the  best 
possible  executives  and  star  salesmen." 

Assign  the  First  Work  Carefully 

The  first  task  offered  to  new  workers  is  of  critical 
importance,  in  securing  responses  and  developing 
them  into  permanent  workers,  or  in  prejudicing  them 
against  the  church.  Where  possible,  it  should  have 
these  features: 

(a)  Simple,  so  that  not  even  a  child  need  hesitate 
to  serve. 

(b)  Important  enough  to  arouse  their  enthusiasm. 

(c)  Involving  many  workers  so  that  they  will  not 
seem  peculiar,  will  be  appealed  to  by  the  "  team  "  or 


180  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

*'gang"  idea,  and  will  respond  to  a  healthful  spirit 
of  emulation. 

(d)  Offering  opportunity  for  pleasant  sociability. 

(e)  Prepared  for  so  as  to  offer  no  chance  of 
failure. 

(f)  Yielding  immediate  visible  results,  which  in- 
sure permanent  enthusiasm. 

(g)  Of  comparatively  brief  duration  yet  with 
simple  follow-up  tasks  so  as  to  establish  further  con- 
fidence and  fix  the  habit  of  working. 

Such  a  task  is  not  so  impossible  to  find  as  at  first 
it  seems.  The  conditions  are  met  largely  by  a 
finance  canvass  or  by  a  community  census  or  social 
survey,  and  to  a  certain  extent  by  a  temperance 
campaign. 

But  by  far  the  best  way  to  interest  and  enlist  nezu 
workers,  so  as  to  insure  their  further  and  increasing 
activity,  is  by  an  Autumn  or  New  Year's  "  Loyalty  " 
or  "  Church  and  Sunday  School  Attendance  "  cam- 
paign. One  plan  for  such  a  campaign,  outlined  in 
detail  in  "  A  Modern  Church  Program,"  *  has  been 
tried  by  thousands  of  pastors  with  large  satisfaction. 
In  brief,  it  means  setting  apart  a  period  of  one  month 
which  is  not  so  long  as  to  frighten  workers  away. 
The  objects  are  such  as  appeal  to  every  one.  Each 
worker  is  furnished  with  a  companion,  a  list  of  places 
to  be  visited  and  printed  matter  to  leave,  so  the  work 
is  simple. 

It  involves  sending  out  at  least  ten  per  cent  of  the 
members  and  visiting  every  family  adhering  to  the 
*By  A.  F.  McGarrah,  Revell  &  Co.,  60  cents. 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    181 

church  on  a  single  Sunday  p.m.,  so  it  is  large  enough 
to  arouse  enthusiasm  and  the  team  spirit.  Letters 
are  sent  out  in  advance  announcing  the  social  visit 
so  they  are  cordially  welcomed  and  delightful  ac- 
quaintances are  formed.  The  great  increase  of  at- 
tendaice  at  the  next  services  proves  the  success  of 
their  work  and  gives  confidence.  An  echo  meeting 
held  at  once  gives  opportunity  to  express  their  satis- 
faction, and  their  feeling  that  church  work  is  pleasant 
and  profitable,  and  to  publicly  commit  them  to  a 
follow-up  campaign  for  visiting  and  welcoming  the 
new  people  throughout  the  month.  Tens  of  thousands 
of  new  workers  have  been  trained  by  such  an  initial 
plan  which  prepares  the  way  for  evangelistic  and 
financial  campaigns  as  a  kind  of  graduate  work. 

Other  Important  Principles 

Give  workers  a  voice  in  the  plans.  Soldiers  of  a 
democracy  fight  more  loyally  than  those  of  an  oli- 
garchy. Have  a  complaint  or  suggestion  department, 
possibly  the  Efficiency  Committee,  to  receive  ideas 
and  criticisms  at  any  time.  If  workers  quit,  find  out 
why  and  remove  the  objection. 

In  a  church  of  over  200  members,  organization 
under  district  or  group  committees  is  almost  essential 
to  efficient  distribution  of  the  work  and  adequate 
reports.  A  paid  "  church  secretary  "  or  "  director  of 
activities  "  should  be  employed  to  see  that  all  informa- 
tion is  conserved  and  that  all  work  started  is  followed 
up,  finished,  or  reassigned  with  wisdom.  Keeping 
people  at  work  is  as  important  as  starting  them. 


182  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Every  committee  must  have  a  competent  secretary 
or  chairman  as  intelligent  leadership  promotes 
loyalty. 

If  workers  are  allowed  to  be  idle  they  are  apt  to 
transfer  their  interests  elsewhere.  They  should  be 
assigned  permanent  duties  with  the  District  Visitation 
or  some  other  church  or  department  committee. 

Assign  new  workers  with  committeemen  or  team- 
mates of  their  choosing  to  insure  their  largest  en- 
thusiasm. 

Give  workers  all  the  general  preparation  possible ;  a 
clear  idea  of  the  church  organization  and  policies,  an 
elementary  insight  into  human  nature,  etc.  Usually 
this  is  done  at  a  supper. 

Give  specific  training  for  each  task  if  possible. 
Scientific  management  means  written  instructions  as 
to  each  piece  of  work,  so  mistakes  are  impossible. 
Have  blanks  for  written  reports. 

A  weekly  workers'  conference,  probably  at  a 
supper  or  after  a  prayer  meeting,  is  highly  desirable. 
Suggestive  reports  as  to  the  time  and  methods  of  their 
work  will  be  given  and  will  stimulate  emulation. 

Seek  to  enlist  workers  for  definite  periods  or  serv- 
ices as — two  hours  each  month  (the  successful 
Methodist  "Time  Legion"  plan),  one  night  each 
week,  three  hours  on  one  Sunday  each  month,  to 
bring  some  one  to  service  each  week,  etc. 

Send  a  letter  to  all  members  asking,  "  What  more 
should  this  church  be  doing  ?  "  to  arouse  their  interest 
and  get  ideas. 

Do  not  stultify  yourself  by  monotonous,  vague 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK   183 

exhortations  to  "  go  to  work  "  with  no  hint  of  what, 
when,  how,  why  or  where.  Be  definite.  Never  knock 
the  idlers.  They  are  not  to  blame,  but  the  in- 
efficient leadership  of  past  years.  Scolding  causes 
revulsion. 

Let  the  minister  and  officers  set  examples  of  service 
and  of  tact.  Do  not  hold  to  stereotyped  terms. 
Use  new  ideas.  Avoid  ruts.  Make  church  work  as 
interesting  as  a  ball  game,  a  salesman's  contest,  or  a 
lodge  enterprise.  He  who  permits  church  work  to  be 
dull  should  be  anathema.  Church  advertising  is  a 
splendid  stimulus  to  the  workers,  as  is  a  church  paper. 

Since  big  men  like  to  be  at  big  tasks,  arrange  city- 
wide  campaigns  when  possible. 

In  addition  to  one  major  responsibility,  give  each 
worker  one  or  more  minor  assignments  which  will 
broaden  his  outlook  and  make  a  change  of  work 
easier  if  necessary.  Every  Christian  should  be  doing 
something  along  each  of  these  four  lines  if  pos- 
sible:— for  the  Sunday  School  or  the  youth  of  the 
church,  for  the  community,  for  some  individual,  and 
for  some  special  committee  of  the  church  or  of  a 
department. 

Assign  workers  tactfully.  Don't  set  a  mechanic  to 
an  artist's  task,  or  vice  versa.  Failure  may  occur  to 
discourage  the  worker  and  interfere  with  the  esprit 
de  corps. 

Show  idlers  that  they  are  their  own  worst  enemies, 
that  tasks  are  for  their  good,  that  service  brings  them 
into  closer  fellowship  with  God  and  is  a  means  to  a 
fuller  understanding  of  the  truth,  and  that  the  slacker 


184  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

robs  himself  of  his  own  good  conscience,  of  all  feel- 
ing of  pride  or  partnership  in  Christian  victories,  and 
of  an  essential  means  of  growth  in  grace. 

Don't  fail  to  promote  workers  from  sentry  or  file- 
closing  jobs  to  larger  and  larger  responsibilities  as 
they  are  fitted  for  them,  to  keep  them  growing. 
Don't  tolerate  the  man  who  wants  to  "  hog  the 
offices."  Show  him  that  he  is  robbing  others  of  what 
they  need,  although  it  is  wise  to  allow  a  specialist 
to  hold  his  work  permanently. 

Give  proper  support  to  the  workers.  Nothing  is 
more  discouraging  to  a  baseball  pitcher  than  poor  sup- 
port on  the  bases  or  in  the  field.  No  minister  can  win 
a  church  game  without  good  team-work  behind  him. 
It  is  equally  demoralizing  to  an  earnest  worker  when 
the  strangers  whom  he  has  induced  to  attend  are  dis- 
gusted by  poor  sermons  or  cold-blooded  pew-holders 
or  lack  of  a  pastoral  call.  Efficient  work  by  the 
finance,  publicity,  visitation,  hospitality  or  any  other 
committee  should  be  supplemented  by  efficient  work 
by  every  other  committee  and  by  the  pastor,  or  inter- 
est will  diminish. 

Give  generous  recognition  for  faithful  service. 
Justice  and  wisdom  impel  to  print  the  names  of  the 
workers  in  the  church  calendar  occasionally,  to  read 
them  in  the  prayer  meeting  or  from  the  pulpit  with 
some  statement  of  their  achievements,  to  send  occa- 
sional personal  messages,  and,  once  each  year  or  at 
the  close  of  a  special  finance  or  evangelistic  campaign, 
to  give  a  reception  or  supper  or  auto  ride  to  the 
workers  of  each  special  group.    "  The  zeal  and  loyalty 


SETTING  EVERY  ONE  AT  WORK    185 

of  many  a  jewel  of  a  worker  have  frozen  when  the 
pastor  or  committee  chairman  publicly  took  all  the 
credit  and  gave  no  sign  of  appreciation."  Talk  about 
what  "  we  have  done,"  instead  of  what  **  I  have  done." 
Paid  workers  do  better  when  given  a  measure  of 
appreciation,  and  faithful  volunteer  helpers  are  al- 
most impossible  without  it. 

Don't  tolerate  unfavourable  working  conditions. 
The  factory  with  plenty  of  light  and  air  and  other 
favouring  surroundings  gets  the  best  workers  and 
their  finest  work.  The  church  with  an  optimistic 
brotherly  atmosphere  and  good  equipment  finds  it 
vastly  easier  to  enlist  workers  and  insure  their  effi- 
ciency. Jealousy,  nagging,  unkind  criticism  and  one- 
man  tyranny  reduce  the  vigour  and  energy  of 
workers.  From  the  pulpit  and  otherwise,  show  that 
such  offenses  are  anti-Christian  and  undermine  the 
usefulness  of  the  Church.  Let  each  one  seek  the 
good  of  all  instead  of  personal  honour  or  office,  let 
criticisms  be  made  to  the  efficiency  committee  and  not 
in  public,  let  all  remember  that  all  are  humanly  liable 
to  imperfections  and  mistakes. 

Remember  that  men  are  never  too  busy  to  do  what 
they  want  to  do,  and  that  most  men  can  be  made  to 
want  to  do  almost  anything.  Do  not  be  put  off  by: 
"  Not  interested  "  or  "  I  am  too  busy/'  Send  fifty 
cents  to  Rev.  E.  E.  Emhoff,  Owotonna,  Minn.,  for 
*'A  Pastor's  Cabinet,"  a  booklet  telling  of  unusual 
success  with  striking  methods. 

Remember  that  the  Church  is  not  only  a  field  but  a 
community  force  to  work  in  the  home,  the  street  and 


186  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

the  city.    "  The  Church  is  the  headquarters  to  train 
people  for  every  kind  of  service." 

Do  not  say  too  much  about  workers,  or  start  them 
too  exuberantly  until  you  have  made  a  survey  of 
what  is  to  be  done  so  you  can  promptly  give  each  one 
a  permanent  worthy  task. 


XIV 
SECURING  EFFICIENT  CHURCH  OFFICERS 

IDEALS,  workers,  organization  and  equipment 
are  absolutely  essential  to  an  efficient  church 
but  they  are  worth  little  without  leaders.  Be- 
fore America  mobilized  her  drafted  armies,  she 
organized  Officers'  Training  Camps  to  prepare  tens 
of  thousands  of  picked  men  for  leadership  as  cap- 
tains and  lieutenants  and  other  tens  of  thousands  of 
the  drafted  men  were  trained  for  sergeants  or 
corporals. 

Andrew  Carnegie  attributes  his  success  largely  to 
his  almost  uncanny  ability  to  find  and  develop  leaders. 
He  constantly  watched  the  recruits  in  his  mills  for 
promising  material  for  overseers,  lieutenants  and  vice- 
presidents,  whose  ambitions  and  ideals  he  stimulated 
by  recognition  and  promotion  and  counsel  until  he 
made  a  score  of  sons  of  farmers  and  mechanics  into 
millionaire  partners. 

A  similar  appreciation  of  the  need  of  leaders  is 
essential  to  spiritual  victories,  and  church  statesmen 
must  everywhere  raise  the  cry  louder  and  louder. 
Says  one  great  preacher,  "  If  I  had  five  good  lay 
leaders,  I  would  turn  the  community  upside  down." 
Another  attributes  his  success  in  doubling  the  mem- 
bership and  trebling  the  attendance  of  a  church  which 
187 


188  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

was  receding  under  his  far  more  brilliant  predeces- 
sor to  "  the  self-sacrificing  industry  and  tactful  per- 
sonal leadership  of  a  half-dozen  unusual  laymen," 
whom  he  developed. 

One  George  Washington  or  U.  S.  Grant  or  R.  E. 
Lee  doubles  or  quadruples  the  value  of  a  whole  army. 
The  pastor  who  develops  half  a  dozen  really  good 
leaders  has  doubled  the  usefulness  of  his  church,  for 
they  can  soon  double  its  numbers  and  spiritual 
efficiency. 

No  pastor  has  the  right  to  sit  down  like  Elijah 
under  a  juniper  tree  to  bewail  the  modern  necessity 
of  a  tenfold  increase  in  the  number  of  efficient  de- 
partmental and  committee  leaders.  Ours  not  idly  to 
deplore  but  promptly  to  meet  the  providential  call  of 
God.  Whatever  else  a  minister  may  do  or  leave 
undone,  here  is  a  primal  duty  if  the  church  is  to  be 
put  on  a  permanently  efficient  basis.  No  church  is 
without  material.  Peter  was  unpromising  and 
Thomas  was  very  dull,  but  great  is  the  glory  of  the 
pastor  who  emulates  his  Master  by  efficiently  de- 
veloping such  Peters  and  Thomases. 

In  a  Pennsylvania  church,  no  one  was  supposed  to 
be  fit  for  office.  Out  of  Boo  members  not  a  new 
officer  had  been  chosen  for  ten  years.  But  a  well- 
managed  every-member  canvass  led  to  the  prompt 
election  of  four  new  trustees  and  six  new  elders, 
young  men  who  had  merely  needed  responsibility, — 
that  great  developer  of  leadership, — to  challenge  their 
interest,  arouse  their  enthusiasm  and  reveal  their 
powers. 


SECURING   EFFICIENT   OFFICERS    189 

In  an  Ohio  church,  an  eighty-year-old  elder  opposed 
the  "  loyalty  campaign  "  plan  suggested  in  the  previ- 
ous chapter  because  there  were  none  fitted  for  the 
work  or  its  leadership.  In  spite  of  his  assertion  that 
"  not  ten  of  our  650  members  will  help,"  after  a 
three-day  Church  Efficiency  Institute,  74  men  and  66 
women  made  630  calls  in  one  Sunday  afternoon  with 
such  impetus  to  the  work  and  such  revelation  of 
leaders  that  personal  evangelism  and  finance  cam- 
paigns followed,  adding  in  seven  months  106  to  the 
membership  and  $3,000  to  the  church  budgets,  while 
raising  the  standards  for  all  church  work. 

How  TO  Secure  Leaders  and  Officers 
In  the  preceding  chapter,  and  in  that  on  men's 
work,  we  have  suggested  important  steps.  The  de- 
velopment of  workers  by  simple  tasks  will  ever  help 
to  prepare  leaders  for  more  difficult  responsibilities. 
The  church  machinery  must  be  simplified  and  stand- 
ardized and  co-ordinated  so  as  to  be  intelligible, 
and  so  that  each  responsibility  will  be  clear-cut.  Over- 
lapping and  indefiniteness  must  be  remedied  as  in 
business. 

Faithfulness  and  industry  are  more  desirable  than 
brilliancy.  Men  who  talk  at  every  opportunity  are 
often  less  reliable  than  silent  neighbours.  Says  the 
Reformed  Church  Efficiency  Commission,  "  Three 
essentials  for  leadership  are,  a  clear  vision  of  the 
world  purpose  of  God  in  Christianity,  a  study  of 
leadership,  and  its  vital  practice.  .  .  .  The  congrega- 
tional efficiency  institute  will  raise  up  leaders.  .  ♦  . 


190  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Make  an  attempt  to  get  the  whole  congregation  to 
study  the  whole  task  both  within  and  without  its 
own  bounds." 

Says  Dr.  Cope,  "  So  few  are  engaged  in  religious 
work  because  they  were  never  taught  to  do  it,  and  be- 
cause no  chance  is  now  offered  to  them."  He  adds : 
"  As  the  curriculum  of  the  day  school  is  being  modi- 
fied by  the  life  needs  and  interests  of  the  pupil,  the 
church-school  curriculum  must  be  determined  by  simi- 
lar conditions.  It  is  well  for  the  children  to  learn 
of  the  zealous  activity  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  but  the 
ideas  become  harmful  unless  we  can  show  where  and 
how  to  emulate  them  today.  There  are  signs  that 
religious  workers  are  recovering  from  the  dangerous 
delusion  that  ignorance  and  inefficiency  were  indica- 
tions or  conditions  of  consecration." 

Church  officers  do  not  happen.  Whatever  they 
know  has  been  acquired.  They  must  study  church 
management  specifically.  We  must  keep  our  require- 
ments high  as  to  spirituality  and  personal  talents  but 
we  must  supplement  them  by  training  as  specific  as 
for  banking,  manufacturing  or  any  other  business. 

Church  leaders  should  be  given  office  as  early  in 
life  as  possible.  Said  a  widely  known  and  unusually 
faithful  churchman,  "  My  chief  regret  is  that  I  have 
been  such  a  poor  church  officer.  My  heart  is  right 
but  I  was  never  in  office  until  I  was  fifty,  too  old  to 
gain  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  work  either  of  my 
denomination  or  of  the  local  church.  I  have  learned 
the  peculiar  tricks  of  church  management  as  best  an 
old  dog  could,  but  I  want  my  son  put  in  my  place  at 


SECURING   EFFICIENT   OFFICERS    191 

the  next  annual  meeting  when  he  will  be  twenty- 
five  years  old.  His  youthful  enthusiasm  and  powers 
will  be  utilized,  he  can  give  more  evenings  to  the 
work  and  can  so  much  better  master  the  science  and 
art  of  church  leadership."  In  some  churches,  officers 
retire  to  the  "  emeritus  list "  when  they  reach 
seventy.  Most  of  them  should  be  able  to  attend  all 
board  meetings  and  to  make  pastoral  evening  calls. 

Every  pastor  should  carefully  scrutinize  his  list  of 
members,  observe  their  interests  and  qualities,  and 
pick  out  for  special  training  those  of  special  promise. 
He  will  find  some  suitable  for  specialists  on  church 
publicity,  finance,  missions,  educational  or  social 
work.  Others  will  be  better  for  general  counsel  and 
leadership. 

He  should  draft  those  who  are  fit,  or  can  become 
so, — winning  their  friendship,  their  interest  and  their 
consent  to  take  temporary  responsibility, — assigning 
them  to  committee  leadership  which  does  not  require 
a  vote  of  the  congregation.  Personal  work  to  enlist 
and  inspire  leaders  is  as  important  as  personal  work 
for  new  members. 

Having  discovered  the  young  people  of  promise, 
send  them  to  county  or  district  inspirational  conven- 
tions, church  methods  institutes,  etc.,  paying  most  or 
all  their  expenses  if  necessary.  Some  churches  send 
the  Sunday-school  head  and  other  officers  to  such 
conventions,  allowing  all  expenses  plus  $3.00  or  $5.00 
per  day,  since  time  thus  spent  is  for  the  church  as  a 
whole,  and  find  it  a  fine  investment. 

Arrange  for  local  institutes  on  church  finance,  on 


192  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

publicity,  on  social  work,  on  methods  of  building  up 
the  attendance  and  membership,  etc.,  as  well  as  on 
women's  and  young  people's  educational  work. 
Usually  neighbouring  churches  will  co-operate  in 
financing  a  joint  institute.  If  not,  the  results  will 
justify  independent  action.  Competent  visitors  will 
arouse  three  times  as  much  interest  as  local  speakers 
because  distance  lends  enchantment,  and  they  should 
be  really  specialists. 

Have  a  campaign  for  students  for  teacher-training 
and  church  management  classes,  to  meet  at  the 
church-school  hour  or  before  it,  or  after  the  mid- 
week service ;  and  hold  a  special  convocation  or  dedi- 
cation service  at  the  opening  of  the  courses,  at  the 
morning  hour,  to  impress  the  importance  of  their 
work  on  both  them  and  the  church.  (See  Athearn, 
"The  Church  School,"  p.  305.)  Devote  several  ser- 
mons or  services  to  awakening  the  people  to  the 
matter.  Sometimes  a  small  committee  will  secure 
large  results.  Books  suitable  for  such  classes  are 
listed  in  the  appendix. 

//  the  present  oMcers  are  not  intelligent,  take 
thought  to  improve  them  tactfully.  At  several  church 
services,  present  a  broad  view  of  the  task  of  the 
church  and  its  elements.  Turn  the  last  half  of  each 
official  board  meeting  to  discussions  of  the  work  and 
to  study  of  the  reports  of  the  boards  and  benevolent 
enterprises  of  the  church.  Hold  an  officers'  retreat 
for  two  or  three  days  at  the  opening  of  the  autumn, 
for  prayer  and  conference  on  the  work  of  the  church. 
Secure  an  ample  church  methods  library  and  see  that 


SECURING   EFFICIENT    OFFICERS    193 

the  books  are  systematically  read,  and  make  the 
church  committee  meetings  institutes  on  methods. 

If  an  officer  is  hopeless,  pile  so  much  work  on  him 
that  he  will  realize  his  unfitness,  or  better  still,  talk 
plainly  to  him  of  the  desirability  of  certain  other 
persons  being  chosen  if  he  would  retire.  If  he  be 
immoral,  ask  him  promptly  to  resign  for  the  sake  of 
the  church.  Ask  him  if  he  resembles  Stephen  or 
Philip. 

Make  the  young  people's  committees  training 
schools  in  the  principles  and  practices  of  church 
work,  have  suitable  addresses  given  to  their  depart- 
ments, organize  a  children's  church  with  active  offi- 
cers corresponding  to  those  of  the  church,  and  insure 
the  abundance  of  leaders  needed  for  tomorrow. 

The  colleges  must  be  summoned  to  help.  As  Dr. 
Athearn  says,  "  The  church  college  must  prepare 
young  people  to  return  to  lead  in  the  religious  work 
of  their  churches  and  communities  or  it  is  not  entitled 
to  denominational  support." 

Another  essential  element  is  the  professional  church 
executive,  male  or  female,  who  can  help  the  minister 
to  train  and  enlist  present  and  future  leaders.  In- 
stead of  reducing  the  need  of  other  workers,  the 
church  assistant's  chief  task  is  to  find  ways  and  means 
of  setting  more  folks  at  work  intelligently  and  of 
keeping  them  at  it.  One  pastor  tells  how  the  num- 
ber of  standard  workers  in  his  church  was  raised 
from  less  than  40  to  over  200  by  the  employment  of 
two  assistants.  When  the  great  field  for  service  is 
understood,   the   attendance   at   the   denominational 


194  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

training  schools  for  lay  workers  will  be  increased  ten- 
fold. 

When  a  man  is  modest  about  assuming  leadership, 
it  is  often  a  good  sign.  Perhaps  he  simply  needs 
the  pressure  of  official  duty  to  enrich  his  life  and 
develop  his  powers. 

Have  an  understudy  for  every  office  in  the  church, 
from  president  of  the  Boy  Scouts  to  treasurer.  Give 
large  freedom  to  leaders,  since  red  tape  and  undue 
limitations  will  discourage  those  most  competent  for 
leadership.  Seek  to  develop  the  spiritual  lives  of  all 
officers  and  understudies,  since  prayer,  intelligence, 
courage,  enthusiasm,  personality  and  the  spirit  of 
sacrifice  are  essential  for  the  best  leadership.  Chal- 
lenge all  officers  and  leaders  to  be  examples  to  the 
church,  to  study  the  ideals  and  methods  of  Christ, 
and  to  take  stock  of  their  own  worthiness  and 
faithfulness. 


XV 

SUCCESSFUL  CHURCH  DIPLOMACY 

FEW  men  have  come  as  close  to  the  problems  of 
so  many  churches  as  has  the  writer,  and  few 
discoveries  have  surprised  him  so  much  as  the 
proportions  of  ministerial  failures  and  inefficient 
churches  which  are  due  to  lack  of  diplomacy.  It  is 
not  enough  for  a  church  leader  to  know  what  a  church 
should  do.    He  must  know  how  to  get  it  done. 

Jesus  was  a  master  diplomat.  With  consummate 
tact,  He  answered  the  question  of  His  opponents  con- 
cerning tribute  money  and  the  resurrection,  met  the 
temptations  of  Satan,  praised  Nathanael,  compli- 
mented Nicodemus  even  when  He  rebuked  his  igno- 
rance, showed  the  faith  of  the  Syro-Phcenician 
woman,  or  won  the  heart  of  Zaccheus.  Good  business 
sense  should  not  conflict  with  obedience  to  the  in- 
junction, "  Be  ye  kind  one  to  another."  Church  ef- 
ficiency demands  brotherly  kindness,  and  patience, 
and  long-suffering  rather  than  bluntness  or  harshness 
or  autocracy. 

The  foolishness  of  the  Lord's  sheep  is  often  most 
exasperating,  but  it  is  surpassed  by  the  folly  of 
bungling  and  unfit  shepherds.  To  treat  sheep  like 
wolves  is  to  scatter  and  destroy  them.  The  church 
leader  should  be  an  ideal  for  his  flock  instead  of  an 
195 


196  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

imitator  of  the  most  unworthy  of  them,  Most  of  the 
sheep  are  only  spiritual  lambs  and  can  and  must  be 
preserved  from  the  results  of  their  own  folly  by  kind- 
ness rather  than  by  bitterness.  The  ideal  church 
leader  does  not  force  obedience,  but  wins  his  people 
so  that,  as  groups  and  individuals,  they  will  follow 
him  as  he  goes  before.  As  a  ruler  of  a  democracy, 
he  always  seeks  to  command  their  respect  and  con- 
fidence as  a  means  to  discipline.  The  more  he  is  like 
Christ,  the  more  he  can  influence  them  as  Christ 
could.  However  much  the  Master  denounced  out- 
side opposition,  we  have  no  record  that  He  employed 
toward  His  disciples  either  sarcasm  or  dictation. 

The  Church  especially  needs  diplomatic  leadership, 
for  it  represents  Christ.  The  divisions  and  quarrels 
which  arise  in  local  congregations  as  well  as  denomi- 
nations from  poor  diplomacy  discredit  Him,  hinder 
His  Kingdom,  vitiate  the  ministry  of  His  Church  to 
the  children  and  to  the  unsaved,  and  neutralize  the 
good  done.  Thousands  of  churches  have  been 
wrecked,  hundreds  of  thousands  of  members  lost 
and  millions  of  prospects  prejudiced,  for  lack  of  it. 

The  diplomacy  which  we  advocate  does  not  consist 
in  secret  machinations  and  falsehood.  Rather  it  is 
"  to  do  and  say  the  wisest  thing  in  the  wisest  way," 
remembering  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  how  He 
said,  "  Be  ye  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves." 
Whether  to  secure  a  raise  in  salary,  a  new  building, 
the  consolidation  of  the  women's  societies  or  a  new 
official  policy,  the  principles  of  diplomacy  are  much 
the  same. 


SUCCESSFUL  CHURCH  DIPLOMACY    197 

Before  coming  on  the  field,  or  if  possible  before 
accepting  the  call,  have  a  kindly  understanding  of  the 
relations  which  will  exist  between  pastor  and  people. 
Plans  which  will  conduce  to  the  best  results  should 
be  defined,  the  salary  and  its  monthly  payment  legally 
acted  upon,  pastoral  oversight  of  all  departments  pro- 
vided for  and  the  right  to  suggest  new  methods  recog- 
nized. As  soon  as  you  take  charge,  begin  to  enlarge 
their  ideals,  to  show  them  in  a  friendly  way  that  they 
have  not  risen  to  all  their  opportunities  and  that  by 
and  by  you  will  have  some  suggestions  to  make. 
Create  dissatisfaction  with  anything  short  of  the 
highest  possible  achievements,  and  a  realization  that 
progress  must  be  constant.  Show  them  that  you  are 
putting  your  life  into  the  work  and  so  deserve  atten- 
tive consideration  and  that  you  can  teach  ideals  better 
if  you  can  determine  policies  to  buttress  them. 

Take  the  people  into  your  confidence.  Nothing  dis- 
sipates interest  like  secret  diplomacy.  Recognition 
of  popular  rights  establishes  confidence. 

Assume  popular  and  official  sympathy.  Say  that 
you  expect  opposition  and  you  will  find  it  in  abun- 
dance. When  you  trust  people  and  expect  their  co- 
operation, they  dislike  to  disappoint  you.  Scold  or 
nag  or  whine  and  they  may  hate  you. 

Never  lose  your  temper.  This  is  as  poor  strategy 
as  it  is  bad  religion.  Deacon  Jones  may  plead  love 
for  the  old  building  when  you  know  his  affection  is 
for  his  pocketbook,  but  other  folks  know  it  also,  or 
can  be  made  to  realize  it  by  tact.  An  open  attack  on 
him  may  drive  him  and  his  friends  from  the  church, 


198  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

will  weaken  your  influence  on  your  best  friends,  and 
may  possibly  start  a  fight  by  which  the  usefulness  of 
the  church  will  be  injured  for  a  generation  after  the 
original  cause  has  been  forgotten.  Patience  is  golden. 
"  A  smile  will  often  carry  you  many  a  mile." 

Avoid  all  thought  as  well  as  all  appearance  of  self- 
seeking.  Modesty  is  useful  as  well  as  ornamental. 
When  he  pleads  with  individuals,  boards,  committees 
or  the  congregation,  the  minister  should  argue  not  his 
personal  rights  but  the  welfare  of  the  church  and 
the  community,  the  principles  of  Christ,  and  the  bene- 
fit of  the  Kingdom.  Vindication  is  never  by  votes 
but  by  popular  opinion  of  one's  grace  and  gumption. 

Never  present  an  important  proposition  to  a  large 
group  for  action  until  you  have  discussed  it  with  two 
or  three  wise  members,  asking  their  criticisms  and 
suggestions.  Do  not  be  sensitive.  Conferring  with 
them,  your  ideas  and  plans  will  be  clarified,  possible 
objections  will  be  discovered  and  can  be  anticipated, 
and  you  will  be  practising  your  arguments  for  the 
larger  group.  If  you  cannot  convert  a  few,  it  is 
impossible  to  convert  a  larger  body. 

Never  do  or  say  what  others  can  do  as  well.  When 
lay  men  or  women  speak  or  act,  the  interest  of  the 
church  is  deepened,  democracy  is  conserved,  they  are 
more  closely  identified  with  the  Kingdom  and  com- 
mitted to  the  plan  with  all  their  friends. 

Never  present  an  important  matter,  especially  if 
there  is  probability  of  opposition,  until  you  have 
converts  to  support  it.  One  of  the  wisest  and  most 
successful  American  pastors  says :  "  I  never  present 


SUCCESSFUL  CHURCH  DIPLOMACY    199 

a  new  proposition  to  any  board  or  department  myself. 
I  interest  one  or  two  bell-sheep  members,  develop 
their  enthusiasm,  and  prepare  them  to  propose  the 
matter  with  the  chief  arguments  for  it.  After  their 
presentation,  I  second  it  in  detail  as  necessary,  at 
once,  or  after  it  has  drawn  fire.  When  I  have  thor- 
oughly prepared  two  or  three  key  members,  my  plans 
rarely  fail  of  adoption,  but  are  seldom  known  as  my 
plans.  They  can  therefore  be  modified  or  abandoned 
without  any  reflection  on  my  judgment.  No  minister 
can  continually  open  and  lead  arguments  without 
arousing  more  or  less  antagonism.  My  plan  insures 
that  those  who  present  the  matter  will  carry  it  on  to 
permanent  success  without  my  constant  attention  and 
even  after  I  leave  the  field." 

Enlist  also  the  interest  of  the  women  and  young 
people  in  your  plans.  Their  influence  is  great,  or 
can  be,  and  their  zeal  also.  "  Many  times,  the  most 
valuable  elders  and  deacons  are  their  wives."  Con- 
sult them.  Win  their  sympathy  and  you  insure  that 
of  their  husbands.  Unfortunate  is  the  young  minister 
who  lacks  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  two  or 
three  sensible  key  women  who  will  protect  him  from 
his  rashness,  will  enlist  the  support  of  other  women 
for  his  plans,  and  will  support  his  proposals  at  cabinet 
and  official  board  meetings.  Women  need  larger  place 
in  the  counsels  of  the  minister,  as  well  as  on  the 
official  board.  One  or  two  women  should  be  members 
of  every  important  committee  and  conference. 

Consult  with  key  members  of  the  Sunday  School, 
young  people's,  women's  and  other  departments  as  to 


200  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

what  they  should  do.  Says  one  pastor,  "  I  had  plans 
of  great  importance  which  demanded  a  complete  re- 
construction of  the  women's  work.  Two  predecessors 
had  injured  their  usefulness  by  proposing  the  same 
things  at  general  women's  meetings.  I  took  a  year  to 
convert  three  key  women,  devoting  a  dozen  afternoons 
and  evenings  to  conferences  with  them,  separately  and 
together,  and  making  a  score  of  telephone  calls. 
When  they  were  fully  converted,  they  presented  my 
plans  to  a  women's  meeting  and  the  desired  changes 
were  made  without  a  public  word  from  me.  In  simi- 
lar ways  I  got  the  graded  lessons,  an  assistant,  duplex 
envelopes,  a  parish  house,  etc." 

Make  large  use  of  counsellors  from  other  churches. 
Well-known  laymen  or  ministers  from  more  impor- 
tant churches,  if  they  have  experience  and  tact,  cani 
say  to  your  people  or  your  boards  what  you  would 
never  dare  say.  Churches  with  bishops  have  a  great 
advantage  here.  Why  should  not  ministers  exchange 
for  these  purposes?  Christ  and  Paul  believed  in 
ministers  working  in  teams  of  two.  Where  you  can- 
not secure  needed  action  unaided,  and  where  denomi- 
national specialists  on  publicity,  educational,  financial, 
social  or  other  interests  are  unavailable,  employ  ex- 
pert assistance. 

A  "Church  Efficiency"  or  "Modern  Church 
Methods  "  Institute  with  competent  leaders  will  be 
invaluable  in  creating  larger  ideals,  arousing  enthusi- 
asm, undermining  opposition  and  helping  to  adapt 
modern  methods  to  the  local  field. 

Follow  public  opinion  rather  than  precede  it.    The 


SUCCESSFUL  CHURCH  DIPLOMACY    201 

minister  must  mould  public  opinion  but  he  should 
not  act  or  ask  action  until  he  is  sure  of  a  sympathetic 
hearing  or  of  co-operation.  Even  the  beloved  pastor 
who  "  can  have  anything  he  wants  "  should  not  ordi- 
narily ask  blind  support.  Unless  they  are  first  made 
intelligent,  officers  or  people  will  simply  vote  a  formal 
and  perfunctory  approval.  Overwhelmed  by  many 
duties,  the  minister  must  either  bury  the  new  plan  for 
lack  of  workers  or  neglect  other  duties  to  push  it, 
only  to  see  it  thrown  on  the  scrap  heap  later,  or  all 
his  efforts  wasted  under  his  successor  because  he 
lacks  time  or  fitness  for  the  plan  and  popular  interest 
in  it  was  never  gained. 

Never  stake  your  success  or  reputation  on  a  propo- 
sition. To  declare,  "  I'll  resign  if  you  don't,"  will 
usually  be  regarded  by  business  men  as  a  sign  of 
childish  petulance.  Even  if  you  win  your  point,  your 
influence  is  weakened  and  the  day  of  your  resignation 
is  probably  hastened.  Patience  and  diplomacy  win 
more  victories  in  the  Christian  Church  than  bluff. 

Formulate  your  propositions  definitely.  Nothing 
dissipates  the  interest  of  business  men  like  indefinite- 
ness  or  unpreparedness.  Officers  who  love  their  pas- 
tors often  negative  their  proposals  because  they  are 
so  vague,  the  details  so  uncertain  and  the  terms  unin- 
telligible to  them.  These  dangers  can  be  avoided 
and  time  saved  at  board  meetings  by  advance  con- 
ferences with  the  leaders. 

If  cold  water  is  thrown  on  important  matters  be- 
cause of  misunderstanding,  do  not  be  discouraged. 
Smile,  and  ask  the  appointment  of  a  small  committee, 


202  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

including  the  objectors,  to  study  the  matter  more 
fully. 

Win  confidence  before  you  make  changes.  Many  a 
new  pastor  hastens  his  downfall  by  making  serious 
moves  before  he  has  time  thoroughly  to  study  the 
field,  the  leaders,  the  needs  and  the  problems.  Even 
where  a  pastor  has  a  free  hand,  he  should  first  get 
well  acquainted  with  his  people,  establishing  him- 
self and  winning  their  hearts  by  faithful  pastoral  and 
pulpit  work. 

Before  making  a  great  campaign  or  attack  with 
unfamiliar  forces  on  unfamiliar  grounds,  a  wise  gen- 
eral sends  out  skirmishing  parties  to  find  the  enemy, 
to  measure  his  strength,  to  survey  his  field,  to  win 
preliminary  victories  which  will  develop  enthusiasm 
and  confidence,  to  test  the  temper  of  officers  and 
privates  and  prepare  them  for  larger  effectiveness, 
and  to  gain  time  for  preparation.  Church  leaders 
should  be  as  wise. 

To  secure  the  adoption  of  a  plan,  there  are  four 
chief  arguments:  that  the  proposition  is  scriptural, 
that  it  is  business-like,  that  it  is  necessary,  and  that  it 
has  succeeded  elsewhere  or  that  good  results  can  be 
expected  because  of  favourable  conditions.  Appeal 
intelligently,  also,  to  the  denominational  past.  For 
example,  Presbyterians  and  Baptists  who  oppose 
social  Christianity  should  be  reminded  that  Calvin 
made  politics  a  part  of  religion  and  that  the  Baptists 
of  Reformation  times  were  almost  a  social  brother- 
hood. 

"Nothing  succeeds  like  success."     The  minister 


SUCCESSFUL  CHURCH  DIPLOMACY    203 

should  seek,  like  Napoleon,  to  establish  a  presumption 
of  success.  Therefore,  he  will  first  start  plans  of 
whose  success  there  is  no  doubt,  as  suggested  in 
chapter  XIII,  leading  on  to  more  difficult  ones. 

Make  large  plans.  Stimulate  the  imagination. 
Frequently  a  church  has  failed  to  add  anything  to 
its  income  by  asking  a  lo-per-cent  raise,  but  has  added 
60  per  cent  by  asking  for  it.  Large  ideas  stimu- 
late large  enthusiasm  and  responses  when  wisely 
presented. 

Remember  that  men  are  so  constituted  that  a  little 
taffy  is  worth  a  bushel  of  stink-bombs,  and  that  oil 
is  more  valuable  than  shrapnel.  Often  an  honorary 
position  or  a  reception  to  an  aged  saint  will  disarm 
opposition  and  win  consent. 

Always  be  a  Christian  and  a  gentleman,  even  if 
others  are  not.  They  v/ill  usually  reflect  your  atti- 
tude. But  do  not  take  the  peculiarly  exasperating 
attitude  of  posing  as  a  martyr. 

Opposition  can  often  be  disarmed  by  compromise. 
Insistence  that  all  wisdom  has  been  put  into  your 
proposition  proves  your  own  fallibility.  Always  be 
ready  to  discuss  compromise.  Win  your  point  by  wis- 
dom, by  heart-to-heart  private  conversations  with  and 
appeals  to  its  opponents  instead  of  by  impugning  their 
honour. 

Frequently  an  opponent  becomes  convinced  that 
he  is  wrong,  but  will  not  admit  it  unless  you  "  save  his 
face  "  by  making  nominal  concessions.  Legislators 
often  insert  in  bills  features  which  can  be  sacrificed 
to  satisfy  critics  who  object  as  a  matter  of  habit. 


204  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Where  difficult  conditions  exist  and  cannot  be 
changed  without  trouble,  two  courses  are  possible : — 
either  work  about  the  incompetent  individual  or 
agency  as  a  farmer  does  about  an  enormous  rock,  or 
prepare  the  people's  minds  for  worthy  changes  and 
blast  the  obstacle  out  of  the  way  with  the  least  pos- 
sible damage  to  the  church  so  that  your  successor  may 
have  a  clear  field.  Sometimes  complete  reconstruc- 
tion can  be  secured  only  through  successive  pastors 
each  helping  a  little. 

Get  many  folks  to  pray  for  the  desired  objective. 
Prayer  is  not  only  a  mighty  means  of  usefulness  but  a 
mighty  reinforcement  to  diplomacy  as  well. 


XVI 

SECURING    NEW    POLICIES,    PLANS    AND 
EQUIPMENT 

IN  this  period  of  marvellous  change  and  recon- 
struction, every  church  must  be  constantly  en- 
larging its  ideals,  improving  its  policies  and 
organization,  adopting  new  plans  and  bettering  its 
plant  and  equipment.  This  is  necessary  and  invalu- 
able, yet  dangerous,  work  Many  churches  have  been 
sadly  wrecked  by  mistakes. 

Many  a  minister  has  broken  his  heart  as  well  as  his 
reputation  here,  and  nothing  else  so  sorely  tests  his 
diplomacy.  He  must  lead  the  church  into  larger  and 
better  ways  suited  to  the  times,  yet  he  must  if  possible 
maintain  the  unity  and  peace  of  the  church  which  are 
more  important  than  sudden  changes.  He  must  main- 
tain his  influence  and  prestige  as  leader  so  as  to  insure 
that  changes  shall  not  be  barren  of  the  desired  results. 

The  preceding  chapter  largely  deals  with  this  theme 
but  its  special  urgency  calls  for  further  suggestions. 

I.   Answers  to  Objectors 

When  introducing  new  methods  or  ideals  or 
policies,  some  of  the  chief  objections  with  arguments 
to  meet  them  are: 

"  It  is  new,  we  never  did  it  before."  Show  that 
205 


206  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

the  Bible  reveals  constant  progress,  that  Jesus  was 
always  breaking  precedents,  that  new  conditions  de- 
mand new  policies  and  equipment  and  plans  and 
organization  just  as  a  growing  boy  demands  new 
clothes,  or  new  times  call  for  new  farm  machinery. 
Many  people  illogically  confuse  new  methods  with 
new  theology.  This  is  as  foolish  as  to  confuse  a  man 
with  his  clothes.  The  last  book  in  the  Bible  tells  us 
that  Jesus  came  to  "  make  all  things  new."  God  is 
ever  remaking  each  human  body  and  all  of  nature. 
A  refusal  to  adopt  the  new  simply  because  it  is  new  is 
as  unscriptural  as  it  is  unreasonable. 

"  This  is  not  the  minister's  business."  When  there 
is  prejudice  against  pastoral  suggestions  as  to 
finances,  music,  Sunday  School,  women's  work  or  any 
other  interest,  show  that  it  is  his  business  to  consider 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  church  and  to  co-ordinate 
all  the  church  interests ;  that  he  is  blamed  locally  and 
through  the  denominations  if  the  church  fails  at  any 
point;  that  as  a  President  or  Governor  is  over  all 
the  interests  of  a  state  or  nation,  so  he  is  pastor  or 
overseer  of  the  whole  church  and  that  it  is  unreason- 
able to  make  him  pastor  of  only  a  fraction  of  it ;  that 
all  things  affect  the  value  of  his  work  as  preacher  and 
pastor;  and  that  he  has  made  a  special  study  of 
church  management,  has  more  opportunities  to  study 
the  successful  workings  of  other  churches,  and  is  the 
only  one  who  continually  studies  the  local  field  and 
meets  all  the  people  and  knows  their  ideas  and  wishes. 

"We  have  tried  this  and  it  did  not  work."  The 
minister  should  study  all  past  experiments  carefully. 


SECURING  NEW  POLICIES  207 

Probably  failure  occurred  because  of  the  unpopularity 
of  the  pastor,  or  lack  of  preparation,  or  the  incom- 
petence or  inaction  of  the  committee,  or  the  making 
of  the  trial  at  the  wrong  season  or  before  times  were 
ripe,  or  the  distraction  of  the  church  by  other  affairs. 
Perhaps  it  was  never  really  tried  with  any  enthusiasm, 
or  possibly  it  was  a  success  but  was  not  kept  up. 
Remind  objectors  that  they  must  not  judge  the  future 
by  the  past.  Airships  and  motor-cars  failed  many 
times,  but  their  success  has  warranted  the  repeated 
experiments.  Show  the  probable  reasons  for  former 
failures  and  that  they  no  longer  exist.  Show  that 
they  learned  how  not  to  do  it.  If  necessary,  modify 
the  plan.  A  slight  change  in  the  proposition,  even  in 
its  name  or  leader,  may  remove  all  prejudice.  Some- 
times it  is  better  to  wait  years  if  bitterness  has  been 
aroused. 

''  We  love  the  old."  Frequently  there  is  a  genuine 
love  for  a  traditional  plan  or  an  old  building.  Never 
sneer  at  anything  as  antiquated  or  "  old  fogey." 
Praise  for  and  sympathy  with  genuine  sentiment  are  a 
pastoral  duty  as  well  as  diplomatic  wisdom.  Per- 
suade by  showing  that  the  Church  is  not  an  agency 
for  maintaining  traditions,  that  it  is  God's  Army  in- 
stead of  a  storeroom  for  beloved  memories,  that  it 
exists  to  make  conquests  and  render  service  rather 
than  to  minister  to  sentiment,  that  a  true  lover  of 
Jesus  as  King  will  subordinate  personal  desires, 
traditions,  prejudices,  and  all  things  else,  as  others  do, 
to  the  winning  of  the  world  and  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Kingdom. 


208  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

"  The  old  plan  does  very  well,"  or  "  We  are  getting 
along."  Usually  answer  can  be  made  that  we  are 
standing  still  instead  of  getting  where  we  ought  to, 
that  our  ideals  are  too  low,  that  we  are  not  doing 
some  things  at  all.  The  *'  fairly  good  "  is  every  enemy 
to  the  best,  betraying  us  into  neglect  of  Christian 
duty.  That  outgrown  departmental  policy  or  financial 
plan  was  a  great  advance  over  its  predecessor  and 
praise  should  be  given  to  those  who  developed  it,  as  a 
step  to  showing  that  there  has  been  deterioration  if 
they  have  ceased  to  be  as  open  to  new  ideas  as  they 
were  then. 

"  We  are  not  an  ambitious  church."  You  ought  to 
be  ambitious  to  accomplish  all  that  God  expects  of 
you.  He  calls  the  officers  to  render  an  account  by 
service  proportionate  to  the  members  and  money 
and  denominational  prestige  and  location  and  other 
opportunities  of  which  He  has  made  this  church 
a  steward.  H  we  are  not  ambitious  to  do  all 
we  can,  we  must  not  expect  an  approving  "  Well 
done." 

"  We  are  doing  as  much  as  many  other  churches." 
But  have  we  not  vastly  greater  advantages  and  oppor- 
tunities than  they?  God  does  not  judge  us,  however, 
by  comparison  with  others  but  by  what  we  could  have 
done. 

"  We  have  a  great  record."  But  past  achievements 
are  our  condemnation  if  we  are  now  at  ease  in  Zion. 
Our  reproach  is  the  greater  because  we  know  what  we 
can  do,  and  we  know  God's  power  to  help.  It  is  not 
ours  to  boast  of  our  ancestors  or  of  our  own  past 


SECURING  NEW  POLICIES  209 

but  to  be  worthy  of  them  by  surpassing  them,  other- 
wise we  are  on  the  path  to  decay. 

"  We  considered  this  once  and  voted  it  down."  No 
business  man  should  ever  make  such  an  argument.  A 
wise  man  is  ever  ready  to  change  his  mind  but  a 
fool  never. 

"  We  can't  do  it."  From  the  days  of  Joshua  down, 
the  "  giants  in  the  way  "  have  ever  been  the  devil's 
best  arguments.  They  can  be  met  only  by  clear  con- 
victions of  the  omnipotence  of  God,  with  whom  man's 
impossibles  are  always  possibles.  The  average  church 
can  do  vastly  greater  things  than  it  has  ever  dreamed 
of  doing.  Enlarged  ideals  and  imagination  are  essen- 
tial prescriptions.  Think  of  the  harder  things  done  by 
the  "  fathers,"  and  by  contemporary  churches  in 
America  and  in  mission  fields,  with  greater  obstacles. 

"  We  can't  afford  it."  When  this  objection  is 
made,  or  is  the  real  one  behind  those  advanced,  have 
a  loyalty  campaign  followed  by  a  stewardship  cam- 
paign. Have  outside  speakers  who  can  speak  plainly 
on  this  most  sensitive  subject.  Men  must  be  made  to 
realize  that  they  are  only  trustees ;  that  the  silver  and 
the  gold,  the  natural  and  the  produced  wealth,  are 
God's  creations  and  possessions ;  and  that  "  it  is  he 
that  giveth  thee  power  to  get  wealth  "  (Deut.  8:  i8). 

II.    Some  Fundamental  Principles 

Vastly  more  im.portant  than  the  adoption  of  any 
detail  is  the  awakening  of  officers  and  people  to  a 
real  vision  with  a  different  viewpoint,  with  an  open 
mind  to  new  ideas,  with  higher  ideals  for  modern 


210  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

times.  Once  the  heart  is  open,  anything  reasonable 
can  be  easily  introduced.  Have  a  series  of  addresses 
by  ministers  and  laymen  on  the  new  opportunities 
and  duties  of  the  church  in  view  of  modern  condi- 
tions. 

When  the  church  cannot  be  induced  to  try  any 
new  plan, — such,  for  example,  as  the  duplex  envelope 
or  paid  publicity  or  the  monthly  officers'  supper, — 
have  it  tried  fairly  in  the  Sunday  School  or  young 
people's  society  on  a  smaller  scale  as  an  eye-opener. 

A  complete  change  is  often  bewildering.  To  retain 
some  of  the  old  features  may  secure  larger  interest 
and  loyalty,  but  essentials  to  success  should  not  be 
compromised. 

Never  depreciate  your  predecessor  or  his  work. 
It  is  wrong  and  it  may  develop  a  habit  of  "  knock- 
ing the  preacher"  which  will  some  day  be  applied 
to  you. 

Have  the  new  as  well  worked  out  as  possible  before 
the  old  is  discarded.  Prepare  most  carefully  for  the 
transition.  In  the  winter  of  1916-17,  after  years  of 
preparation,  arrangements  were  completed  to  replace 
a  great  bridge  over  the  Missouri  at  Omaha,  used  by 
several  transcontinental  railways.  The  old  piers  were 
retained.  The  new  bridge  was  constructed  on  a  false- 
work just  above,  and  a  false- work  was  prepared  just 
below  to  receive  the  old.  At  midnight  a  force  of  men 
properly  prepared  began  work.  In  less  than  an  hour 
the  old  was  replaced  by  the  new  bridge  and  traffic  was 
resumed.  Unless  your  new  plans  are  well  worked  out, 
a  breakdown  will  occur  causing  friction.     The  old 


SECURING  NEW  POLICIES  211 

having  been  too  discredited  to  use  again,  the  church 
is  far  worse  off  than  before. 

Seek  to  make  changes  along  standard  lines  so  that 
they  will  be  permanent.  Mere  originality  must  never 
be  substituted  for  fundamental  wisdom,  though  de- 
tails may  be  varied  in  order  to  give  freshness.  In 
other  words,  the  main  structure  must  be  standardized 
so  that  your  successor  can  use  it,  though  the  wall- 
paper and  furnishings  may  suit  your  special  tastes. 

When  presenting  a  big  proposition  publicly,  do  not 
begin  with  details.  Make  the  main  proposition  abso- 
lutely clear,  then  discuss  the  matter  by  point.  For 
example,  present  the  need  for  a  new  building  or  for 
a  reorganization  of  the  church  machinery,  arousing 
enthusiasm  and  popular  approval  for  the  general  idea. 
Then  unfold  the  details  step  by  step  in  such  other 
services  and  conferences  as  may  be  necessary  to  arrive 
at  a  final  plan  and  its  adoption.  The  greater  the 
project,  the  more  essential  is  original  enthusiasm  and 
time  for  full  consideration.  To  present  a  great  build- 
ing plan  sometimes  creates  ineradicable  prejudice. 
Many  congregations,  having  decided  to  "  consider  a 
modest  enlargement  of  the  present  plant,"  have  been 
led  gradually  to  consider  all  elements  carefully  and 
finally  have  voted  heartily  to  build  the  needed  new 
plant  at  a  cost  double  or  treble  what  they  would  have 
authorized  originally.  The  same  has  been  true  of 
church-work  plans  developed  under  diplomatic  leader- 
ship of  a  Church  Efficiency  Committee,  appointed  to 
consider  the  entire  field  of  the  church  and  to  recom- 
mend desirable  changes  whatever  they  may  be. 


212  MODERN  CHURCH  MANAGEMENT 

Do  not  ask  people  to  consider  many  new  things  at 
once,  especially  if  important.  They  will  not  receive 
due  consideration.  There  is  danger  that  they  will 
either  be  disapproved  or  will  be  authorized  without 
sufficient  interest  to  insure  success.  Every  failure 
discounts  your  leadership,  discourages  the  workers, 
creates  pessimism  and  gives  excuse  for  refusal  to 
consider  that  plan  again  or  to  try  any  other  new 
ideas. 

Never  gossip  about  your  members  or  officers  to  one 
another.  It  is  a  heathenish  example  as  well  as  child- 
ish folly.  And  remember  that  you  must  also  set  an 
example  of  big-heartedness  and  of  a  forgiving  spirit  if 
you  expect  others  to  practise  them.  Do  not  be  sus- 
picious, for  it  leads  to  your  being  suspected  and  mis- 
understood. 

Be  certain  that  you  have  competent  and  enthusi- 
astic leaders  to  insure  the  success  of  every  new  plan 
or  committee. 

Remember  that  laymen  differ.  The  promoter  is 
as  likely  to  let  his  enthusiasm  run  away  with  him 
and  to  approve  of  untimely  things  as  the  banker  is 
to  resist  all  changes  as  dangerous.  Let  the  two 
extremes  balance  each  other. 

Whoever  starts  changes  or  buildings  should  see 
them  through.  To  leave  in  the  midst  of  reconstruc- 
tion, unless  for  imperative  reasons,  is  to  endanger 
one's  work  and  reputation.  A  new  policy  needs  con- 
stant watching  and  improvement  for  a  time,  and  its 
parent  can  do  this  best. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  list  of  volumes  most  essential  to  the  "  Church 
Management  and  Methods  Library "  of  the  average  church 
is  necessarily  brief.  It  presents  those  volumes  which  will 
be  most  helpful  to  beginners  in  this  field. 

General  Church  Management 

Church  Efficiency,  Tremaine,  Revells,  50c. 

Building  a  Working  Church,  Black,  Revells,  $1.25. 

The  Working  Church,  Thwing,  Revells,  6oc. 

Local  Church  Efficiency  (a  recent  volume  of  unusual 
value,  prepared  by  Church  Efficiency  Commissions  for 
Laymen's  Movement  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  the 
United  States,   15th  and  Race  Sts.,  Philadelphia),  50c. 

The  Reconstruction  of  the  Church,  Strayer,  Macmillan, 
$1.50. 

Men  and  Religion  Movement  Library,  Association  Press, 
7  volumes,  $5.00.    All  volumes  have  great  value. 

Survey  and  Program 

The    Church    Survey,    Carroll,    Methodist    Book    Concern, 

$1.00. 
A  Modern  Church  Program,  McGarrah,  Revells,  60c. 

Church   Finance  and  Stewardship 

Modern   Church  Finance,   McGarrah,  Revells,  $1.25. 

Church  Finance,  Agar,  Missionary  Education  Movement, 
50c. 

A  Man  and  His  Money,  Calkins,  Methodist  Book  Con- 
cern, $1.00. 

Stewardship  and  Missions,  Cook,  A.B.P.S.,  50c. 

General  Church  Methods 

The    Way    to    Win,    edited    by    Fisher,    Methodist    Book 

Concern.  6oc. 
Workable     Plans     for     Wide-awake     Churches,     Reisner, 

Methodist  Book  Concern,  $1.50. 
Modern  Methods  of  Church  Work,  Mead,  Doran,  50c. 
213 


214  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Parish  Problems,  edited  by  Gladden,  Century  Co.,  $1.50. 
The  Problems  of  the  Town  Church,  Miller,  Revells,  75c. 
Dead   or   Alive,    A    Study   of  the   Local   Church,    Agar, 
Revells,  50c. 

Evangelism 

Pastoral  and  Personal  Evangelism,  Goodell,  Revells,  $1.00. 
Normal  Evangelism,  Green,  Revells,  $1.00. 
Recruiting  for  Christ,  J  T.  Stone. 

Church  Publicity 

Principles  of  Church  Advertising,  Stelzle,  Revells,  $1.25. 
Church  Publicity,  Reisner,  Methodist  Book  Concern,  $1.25. 
Publicity  and  Progress,  Smith,  Doran,  $1.00. 
Church   Advertising    (Addresses  at   1916  Church   Publicity 

Departmental    of    National    Advertising    Association), 

Lippincott,  $1.00, 

Volume    soon    to    be    issued    with    addresses    at    1917 

Church   Publicity   Congress    (Address   W.   L,   Roberts, 

Ridgewood,  N.  J.,),  $1.00. 

Men's  Work 

The  Problem  of  Lay  Leadership,  Elliott,  Revells,  Soc. 
The  Efficient  Layman,  Cope,  Griffith  and  Rowland,  $1.00. 
The  Church  and  Young  Men,  Cressey,  Revells,  $1.25. 
Modern  Church  Brotherhoods,  Patterson,  Revells,  $1.00. 

Church  School  and  Education 

The  Church   School,  Athearn,   Pilgrim   Press,  $1.00. 

The  Church  and  Her   Children,   Hulbert,  Revells,  $1.00. 

The  Secondary  Division  Organized  for  Service,  Alexander, 
Revells.  50c. 

The  Sunday  School  Organized  for  Service,  Lawrence, 
Pilgrim  Press,  50c. 

The  Sunday  School  at  Work,  edited  by  Paris,  West- 
minster Press,  $1.25. 

The  Development  of  the  Young  People's  Movement,  Erb, 
Chicago  University  Press,  $1.00. 

Efficiency  in  the  Sunday  School,  Cope,  Doran,  $1.00. 

(For  a  complete  bibliography  on  educational  themes, 
on  the  organization  and  management  of  each  depart- 
ment and  phase  of  Sunday  School  work,  see  Dr. 
Athearn's  "The  Church  School.") 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  215 

Rural  Church 

The  Challenge  of  the  Country,  Fiske,  7Sc. 

The  Church  of  the  Open  Country,  Wilson,  Missionary 
Education  Movement,  50c. 

The  Rural  Church  Movement,  Earp,  Methodist  Book  Con- 
cern, 75c. 

The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish,  Mills,  Missionary  Edu- 
cation Movement,  50c. 

Prayer  and  Worship 

The  Meaning  of  Prayer,  Fosdick,  Association  Press,  60c. 
Prayer  Packet,  Laymen's  Missionary  Movement,  50c. 
Worship    and     Song,    Winchester,    Hartford     School    of 
Pedagogy, 

Social  Service 

Graded  Social  Service  for  the  Sunday  School,  University 
of  Chicago  Press. 

Social  Evangehsm,  Ward,  Missionary  Education  Move- 
ment, 50C. 

Publications  of  the  Social  Service  Commission,  Federal 
Council  of  Churches,  105  E.  22nd  St.,  New  York. 

Yearbook  of  Social  Service,  Federal  Council  of  Churches. 

SoaAL 

Social  Plans  for  Young  People,  Reisner,  Methodist  Book 

Concern,  75c. 
Recreation  and  the  Church,  Gates,  University  of  Chicago 

Press,  $1.00. 
The    Church    and    the    People's    Play,    Atkinson,    Pilgrim 

Press,  $1.00. 
Social  Activities,  Chelsey,  Association  Press,  |i.oo. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


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